Aftermath's Destruction
by L.M. Avalon
Summary: Sequel to DH! With Naraku no longer hunting her down, Kagome's only worry now is Inuyasha and his prying 'feelings.' But Fate seems to have a problem leaving her life alone: Souta and Shippou are targeted in a kidnapping conspiracy. AU. Inu/Kag. Mir/San.
1. Three Months Later

I strongly recommend you read _Dashed Hopes_ before this. Just a reminder: This is a modern AU, and everyone is human in this story. (Therefore, Inuyasha has his human black hair and dark eyes. Sesshoumaru remains the same, since it seems silly to change his physical appearance when he doesn't have a canon human form.) Eye colors are from the manga. (Therefore, Kagome's eyes are blue.)

Edited: 7/22/2011

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter One: Three Months Later

* * *

"Last night I looked up at the stars and matched each one with a reason why I love you. I was doing great, but then I ran out of stars." The young man's eyes danced with a mixture of seriousness and playfulness as they locked with his girlfriend's, a charming smile playing on his face.

"Oh, that's so sweet," the young woman gasped, her eyes half-lidded. She leaned towards him, her cheek resting on her hand as she gazed lovingly back at him. All the noises around the two seemed muted; they were officially in their own little world. Eating utensils clanged against dishes; music played lightly in the background; and the occasional chair scraped against the restaurant's hardwood floors. The couple tuned out all of it.

"They say you only fall in love once, but that can't be true. Every time I look at you, I fall in love all over again," he continued in a breathy whisper, as oblivious to his surroundings as his date was. The only thing that currently mattered to him was the twinkling eyes of his girlfriend.

"That was beautiful," she murmured, completely entranced with his sweet nothings.

"When I look at you, I cannot deny there is a God, because only God could have created something as wonderful and beautiful as you."

A very feminine snort from across the table interrupted the cute moment.

"What, Kagome?" Sango snapped as she pried her eyes away from Miroku's and rounded on her best friend. "Do you disagree with what Miroku just said, because I'm _not_ beautiful?"

Kagome quickly held up a hand in her defense, waving it in a placating manner. "Of course not, Sango! It's just that Miroku said 'God,' but he's _Buddhist_!" She continued to snicker quietly, unable to hide the amusement this caused her. Running a hand through her thick black hair, Kagome attempted to suppress her laughter.

Inuyasha, however, didn't seem to be even trying to hold back his loud guffaws.

Miroku, seemingly unaware of his slip up, went back to seducing his date without missing a beat. "If I could reach up and capture a star for every time you've made me smile, I'd have the whole evening sky in the palm of my hand."

Sango, for her part, eagerly went back to drowning in his loving quotes. To anyone walking past their table, it would appear as though the pair were enjoying the current stage of their relationship: that stretch of time where a couple is so sugary sweet to each other that it was borderline disgusting. It didn't occur to either Sango or Miroku that to everyone else, their flirting was kind of revolting and more than a little cheesy.

On their side of the table, Kagome giggled as she turned away from the couple. "Hey, Inuyasha?" she asked, sipping her water.

He snorted before he was able to fully quell his chuckling. "What?"

"Do you think that I shouldn't have interrupted them...?"

Dark eyes rolled as the man scowled jokingly. "If you hadn't said something, I would have. I'll lose my appetite before the food even gets here," he muttered. As much as he loved Miroku and Sango, the constant adorable one-liners were grating on his nerves. Oh, how he longed for the days when the only exchange between the two was an inappropriate grope followed by a counter-slap. While it was almost a sure thing that one of those would happen at least once a night, they weren't as frequent as before.

Kagome laughed. "Like that could ever happen," she teased, amused by his seemingly endless appetite.

He smirked back at her, one of his slightly pointed canines digging into his lower lip. "I'm more than just a stomach, you know!" He pretended to look wounded at the flash of disbelief that crossed her face.

"I know, I know," she immediately calmed him. "Oh look! The food's here!" She groaned as an overly large pot of ramen was placed in front of Inuyasha. Steam rose from the surface, carrying a tantalizing aroma of meat and vegetables towards Kagome's nose. "Could you eat something other than ramen for once in your life?"

Inuyasha immediately dug in, leaning down so that his chopsticks traveled the shortest distance possible from the food to his mouth. A few bites later, he looked up from his meal, noodles hanging from his mouth and chopsticks poised, ready to grab more. "Could you eat something other than _that_ once in awhile?" he gurgled while nodding to the dish in front of her.

Kagome looked scandalized. "What? Oden? Never!" she declared, pressing her chopsticks against her chest, her baby blues wide with seriousness.

Their companions were still too busy to notice their own dinners had arrived.

Inuyasha finished in record time and slouched in his seat, half tempted to pat his stomach in satisfaction like he would if he was home alone. While waiting for the others to finish their meals, he was content to watch the woman sitting next to him.

Kagome was eating at a much slower rate than he would have ever had the patience for. Even her love for oden wasn't persuasive enough to make her shovel the food into her mouth any faster. Every so often, she'd set her eating utensils aside to pick up a napkin and dab at her lips or to brush a lock of her loose hair back over her shoulder from where it had fallen. She was oblivious to the fact that Inuyasha was watching her intently.

It was another of the four friends' outings in the city. Kagome and Inuyasha just put up with the lovey-doveyness of Miroku and Sango, because they almost always picked up the bill. Besides the allure of free food was the ever-entertaining lovers' spats that happened at least once an evening. Even now that the two were dating, Miroku still wouldn't keep his hands in check, but Sango was happy to do that for him.

_Three months_, Inuyasha mused as he watched his friends joke and chat with one another. _It's been almost exactly three months since Kagome became the Vice President. I still can't believe she hasn't screwed up!_

In truth, he had always known she was the perfect VP for the Inutaisho Company; not that he'd ever willingly admit it. Kagome was, surprisingly, one hell of a businesswoman. Who would have known the petite beauty had it in her? Sesshoumaru seemed to if the contract the three coworkers had signed was anything to go by. After the trial basis to see if the young woman could handle the company as well as the brothers had hoped, Kagome had been officially, permanently given the role. A five-year contract at a business meeting that very morning assured Inuyasha that Kagome wasn't going anywhere for a long while.

It had also been three months since the mess with Naraku had been cleared up, and Kagome still wasn't giving Inuyasha any clues that she might be thinking of him as more than a business partner and good friend.

However, in all honesty, it wasn't as though Inuyasha was running around, shouting his feelings for her from the rooftops. He had not told her directly that he wanted to try something beyond friendship. Being straightforward with his "feelings" was definitely not easy for him, and he was still trying to sort out what exactly he thought of her. He could be blunt, outspoken, and loud about almost any other subject. But not this one.

It would just be so much easier if she would make the first move.

* * *

The next morning, Inuyasha fiddled with a tiny strip of paper before smoothing it out to read for the umpteenth time. The black ink glittered under florescent lighting overhead, and the words flashed mockingly up at him.

Crumpling up the fortune, Inuyasha tossed it into the little trashcan sitting in the corner of his office. Crossing his arms on top of his desk, he cradled his head on them and thought over how much his luck sucked at that very moment. Why a Japanese restaurant handed out fortune cookies was beyond him. Weren't they traditionally handed out in Chinese restaurants in America? He'd only seen them during various business trips to San Francisco or New York and had never seen them back home.

What made the situation even worse (or ironic, depending on how you looked at it) was the message printed on the fortune.

_Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have_.

If this was the universe's way of telling Inuyasha that he shouldn't be so hard on Kagome's lack of romantic affection for him, then... screw the universe.

"Inuyasha!" a preteen boy shrieked as he ran through the doorway, startling the man almost to the point of falling out of his chair.

"Souta?" Inuyasha asked, blinking stupidly back at the grinning boy. Shuffling his paper into something that vaguely passed as a pile, he got up from his chair and walked to the front of his desk. Leaning back against the edge, he crossed his arms over his chest and eyed Kagome's little brother. The boy nodded eagerly back at his hero and beamed a sticky smile, a half-eaten cinnamon bun clenched in one hand. "Not to sound rude or anything, but what the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?" Inuyasha pointed out while glancing nervously around the room as though the kid's older sister would jump out from behind the filing cabinet.

Kagome would kill him if she found out he'd taught the boy how to play hooky.

Souta grinned mischievously while finishing off his treat. "Nuh-uh! I get to skip that torture chamber— I swear they created math just to traumatize kids— and come here for the day! It's Take Your Kid to Work Day.'"

"Yeah, again with the not being rude, but the last time I checked, Shippou was your sister's kid, not you."

Souta huffed, "Shippou went with our mom, so I get stuck with Ms. Sunshine and Daises for the day."

The boys locked eyes and at the same time feigned a high-pitched voice. "But I like yellow and blue!" they mocked Kagome together.

Before their imitations of her could carry on, Kagome herself stuck her head into the office. "Kouga's here!" she announced as she smiled widely at the two.

Her younger brother grinned back at her, obviously excited. Even with a new role model (meaning Inuyasha) in his life, he couldn't forget about Kouga. "Great!" He raced from the room, passing Kagome in the doorway, and crossed the empty room outside that had once been Kagome's secretary post.

"I'll be right down!" Kagome called to her brother's retreating back, hoping he could still hear her. Turning back to her boss, she adopted a business-like air. "I have all of the accounts given to me sorted out; can I take the rest of the day off? It's Friday, so any new projects I can do over the weekend... which you're letting me spend _outside_ of the office, right?"

Inuyasha looked put out. He raised a finger to wag in scolding kind of way in her direction. "Why are you asking me? You're Vice President now, Kagome, you need to learn that you can make your own decisions."

Kagome paused, letting the words sink in, and then replied, "Thanks, I'll have to remember that."

A comfortable silence passed between the two before Inuyasha said something to ruin the moment. Typical. "Vice President or not, I still don't like you hanging out with that idiot."

Kagome's smile melted into a frown. "Inuyasha! I've told you before, and I'll tell you again; Kouga has six years of medical school under his belt. He graduated high school at 16! He is anything but an idiot... Plus, he's my friend. Call him an idiot again, and I'll have to hit you," she threatened, holding up a hand angrily.

Inuyasha huffed, mirroring Souta's earlier look of displeasure when asked why he wasn't spending the day with his mother instead of his sister. "It doesn't matter how much school that wimp has, he'll always be a moron."

True to her word, Kagome fully entered the office and bopped her friend on the shoulder with a closed fist. Inuyasha didn't feel a thing, but he pretended to stumble back from the hit. "I haven't seen Kouga for awhile with all those projects he has with his hospital internship. It'll be good to catch up... What are _we_ doing this weekend?" She steered the conversation away from her old friend, which had always been a sore spot for her and Inuyasha's relationship.

Inuyasha's expression brightened a little. "Well, Sango and Miroku are going to do a family outing thing today and are taking Kohaku to the zoo or something. If Kaede watches Souta and Shippou, that just leaves us... Want to crash at my place and watch a movie?"

"Sounds perfect."

* * *

Kagome spent the rest of the day wandering around the city with her brother and Kouga. Their 'guy talk' began to wear her down, so she turned her thoughts to other things.

For one thing, why did Inuyasha always insist on being so huffy when she went out with male friends? As far as she was concerned, he was being an over-protective ass and wouldn't let her have any fun away from him. She snorted quietly and read the signs over the shops the group walked past, checking a mental to-do list to see if she needed to stop anywhere. A video rental store tucked between a pet shop and a boutique caught her eye.

"Hey, Kouga?" she asked suddenly, turning her eyes back onto her brother and friend.

"Huh?" he asked, looking away from Souta. He smiled at her, his hands buried deep into his winter coat and his long hair being tugged at by the wind. A strand from his ponytail streamed in front of his eyes, and he brushed it away with his gloved hand. His piercing blue eyes traveled up and down his long-time friend, but not in a (completely) lecherous way. It was just that she looked so adorable bundled up in a maroon sweater and scarf. Her nose, tips of her ears, and cheeks were all flushed slightly pink with the bitter winter winds.

She flashed a quick smile back at him and buried herself deeper into her scarf, grateful for her long hair that kept her somewhat warm. "I'm heading over to Inuyasha's place tonight. Do you mind if I go look for some movies?" She tilted her head in the general direction of the store she saw.

Kouga shrugged amiably. "Not a bit. I was thinking of taking the kid to a gaming store, anyway. Meet back here in an hour?" he asked as he ruffled Souta's hair affectionately. The preteen beamed up at him, batting the man's hand away before grabbing it again and tugging on Kouga's arm.

"Sure, no problem. See you soon!" Kagome waved at the two as she backed away towards the curb. Looking both ways, she raced across the narrow street and stopped at the other side.

"Ma'am? May I help you?" a polite (shocking!) teenager asked as Kagome stomped her snow-covered boots on the welcome mat. A clump fell off and splattered, dusting the floor with the fine, white powder.

"No, I'm fine."

"Call me if you need me," the employee told her and then went back to talking with a group of friends hanging around next to the counter.

Kagome walked down the aisles, scanning her options. She was a fan of romantic comedies, but Inuyasha was more of an action-adventure kind of guy. She toyed with the idea of getting a foreign film, probably an American or British movie, but decided against it. Reading subtitles seemed like too much of a chore for her overworked brain. Checking out the selection categorized under 'Classics,' she snatched a box off the shelf and read the little blurb on the back.

Jack pot! Biting back a triumphant cheer, Kagome paid for the rental at the counter and left the store.

There were only a few hours left before Inuyasha expected her to drop by for movie night, and she wanted to get as many hours in with her brother as she could before then. She had half a mind to invite Kouga along, but he and Inuyasha were getting along less than usual lately. If a fight broke out, Kouga might be leaving Inuyasha's without a throat.

She spent the rest of the day laughing over high-school moments that Kouga brought up. Souta enjoyed listening to the two, hearing about what Kagome was like the years before she'd started to take care of him on her own. He loved the stories about what a goofball his sister had been. It sounded as though she was constantly getting herself stuck in sticky situations. There was the time she'd promised to help out all three of her friends (Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi) during a festival; she ended up working in the kitchen, singing in a choir, and playing a major part in a school play when she wasn't originally going to be doing anything at all.

Kagome eventually checked her watch and nearly jumped out of her skin. "Oh, I need to get going!" She stood up quickly and swung her purse over her shoulder. She bent down and pecked her brother on the forehead, horrifying him in front of everyone else in the restaurant (who wants to be kissed goodbye by their sister in public?), and giggled wickedly when he immediately scrubbed at his forehead.

"You'll be all right getting there?" Kouga asked, dunking a fry into a pile of ketchup and munching on it.

"Yeah. I'll probably head home and change, and then take the truck. Hey, Souta?"

"Yeah, sis?" He looked up from his WacDonald's milkshake, blinking his big brown eyes back at her; he looked so much like their mother sometimes.

"Be good for Kaede. No pranks. I don't want to come to pick you up and hear how you put a frog in her soup again," Kagome told him seriously, wagging a finger in his direction. "And thanks again, Kouga, for dropping him off with Sango's nanny." Kagome gripped her friend's shoulder briefly before starting towards the fast food restaurant's door.

"Aww, I don't mind taking care of the kid! Have a good time, Kagome," he hollered after her. When she rounded a corner and disappeared from view, Kouga nudged Souta. "Do you like Inuyasha?"

The black haired boy nodded eagerly. "He's almost as fun as you!"

"And does Kagome like him?" the brunette went on, leaning forward onto his elbows as he gave his full attention to the kid.

"Yeah."

"Hmm... Finish your milkshake, and we can get some hot chocolate before you go to Sango's." Kouga ruffled Souta's hair for the umpteenth time that day. Inside, he wasn't as happy as he appeared. The last thing he wanted in the world was for Kagome to get too attached to Inuyasha and have her heart broken. When Naraku turned out to be such a monster, Kouga vehemently wished he could have rewound time to save Kagome from the heartache she was forced to go through. If Inuyasha turned out to be anything like Naraku, Kouga would do whatever he could to protect her.

* * *

"I have found the _perfect_ movie!" Kagome announced as soon as she let herself into Inuyasha's massive house. She kicked off her shoes in the entryway and tore off her coat, throwing it haphazardly on a nearby chair. The house was unnaturally quiet; Sesshoumaru was in Kyoto for a business meeting that evening and had taken his adopted daughter, Rin, with him. Without the other residents, it only took a moment to locate Inuyasha. Kagome followed scraping sounds into the living room.

"Oh, really?" he grunted as he shoved a heavy couch into a corner. Wiping his hands down the front of his jeans, he stalked over to the fireplace. Grabbing a lighter from the mantle, he bent over and lit the wood. Once he was sure the fire took to the kindling, he turned away, loving the warmth spreading across his back from the crackling flames.

In the doorway, Kagome was rustling around in a small plastic bag. Whipping out the movie, she held it aloft for inspection.

Inuyasha wandered over and leaned in closer to get a better look. _Sengoku- Jidai: A Feudal Fairytale_, he read to himself, raising one eyebrow questioningly. "And just how is this perfect?" he asked, bemused, looking up from the title and into Kagome's bright eyes.

In response, Kagome wrinkled her nose at him, opting to plop down on the couch in front of the wide screen TV before answering. "Because it has romance, action, adventure, mystery, comedy, and horror all rolled into one movie! Personally, I think it sounds too good to be true, but we should give it a try."

Inuyasha sat down next to her, propping his feet up onto the coffee table. "Fine, but why does it have to be a romance?" He made a face.

Kagome ignored him. She looked dreamy for a moment, a naive smile tugging at her lips. "A forbidden romance between a young woman with unusual powers and an outcast afraid to trust anybody... Who could resist that?" She sighed happily, staring off into space.

"Feh," he grumbled. 'Fairytale' seemed like the right word to have in the title. "Start it already," he said impatiently as he studied the case again. There was an extremely wicked sword shown on the front that caught his eye.

As the theme music, both catchy and fast, started to play, Kagome was instantly sucked in. Loud monsters, disturbing traps, a twisted bad guy, a sweet heroine, and a cocky but drool-worthy hero graced the screen. Inuyasha enjoyed all the adrenaline pumped fights and appreciated the horror scenes that forced Kagome to clamp onto his arm.

It really was the perfect movie.

Kagome fell asleep a good half hour before the ending, though. Deciding that he wouldn't mind seeing it again with her the next day, Inuyasha covered her up with a blanket. He continued to watch, entranced by the final battle, with Kagome curled up at his side.

_So, Kagome... I have no clue what exactly I feel about you, and I don't know how you feel about me, but... I think it'd be a good idea to maybe date for awhile to figure it out._ Inuyasha rehearsed what he could say as he watched Kagome coiled against the arm of the couch. Deciding that option was too weak and unsure, he gnawed at the inside of his cheek angrily. He tried again. _I'm not Naraku, Kagome, and I'd never hurt you like he did. If anyone even tried anything like that ever again, I'd rip their throats out and parade their heads around on pikes._

Perhaps that one was a bit too aggressive.

_Kagome... When you first showed up, I really wanted to get to know you better because you weren't like any other woman I'd ever met. Even though you'd been through so much crap, you were still so fiery. The more I got pulled into the situation, the more I respected you for how you faced things. When it was all over, I was relieved that you decided to stay here. I don't know exactly what I feel for you... but I'd like to find out._

Better. But would that be saying too much? Probably.

Leaning back, Inuyasha stared up at the ceiling. He followed the ridges and bumps in the paint with his eyes, his mind bouncing from thought to thought. Kagome shifted in her sleep, gravitating towards his warmth. Inuyasha nudged her away from the edge of the couch until she was a safe distance from the risk of falling off, her head propped up on his knee. Once he was sure she was comfortable, he began to drift off himself.

* * *

"Mm... So warm..." Kagome mumbled, burying her face deeper into her pillow. One of her hands reached up to brush away a lock of her hair tickling her nose. Squeezing her eyes tight against the light seeping in through the window, she attempted to fall back asleep. _Need food... and a bathroom... but mostly food. So warm...don't wanna get up yet..._ Kagome shifted through her thoughts, becoming more awake as the seconds ticked by.

Inuyasha watched her with a highly amused smile but become impatient when five minutes passed without Kagome stirring any more. Leaning down, Inuyasha put his lips against her ear and whispered, "Good morning, Kagome."

Blue eyes snapped open. "Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?"

She flinched away and blinked rapidly against the sunlight flooding through the window and hitting her full in the face. Kagome had been sleeping on Inuyasha! At least it explained why her pillow was so warm. Accessing the situation, Kagome figured that she must have moved in the night and ended up with her face buried in Inuyasha's shoulder. "I'll be right back," she said as she wrenched herself away from him as fast as humanly possible. She leapt off the couch and backed away, looking more like a startled rabbit than anything else.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha called after her, sitting up and looking at her confusedly. This wasn't exactly the good morning he had expected when he'd waken up to find her curled up, asleep in his lap. Shaking off the sour feeling of disappointment, he got up himself and made his way to the kitchen.

Down the hall, Kagome was locked in the bathroom. She splashed cold water on her face, forcing her complaining body to wake up. Waking up to Inuyasha had felt good. She winced as her mind, against her will, took her back to those few precious moments on the brink of consciousness. It had felt so warm and comfy and safe, just lying there in his arms.

She balked against those thoughts. She couldn't let herself feel that way about a man. After Naraku... Well, you could say she'd learned her lesson. No matter how nice they seemed at first, how perfect or how wonderful, they always showed their true colors eventually. Although it had been a little over three months, Naraku's cold words on his death day, fifty stories above the ground, still rang fresh in her mind.

_"And then there's Inuyasha… He doesn't care for you, in any way at all. He's a shallow playboy who sleeps around with anyone who will have him. He'd just use you and throw you away."_

No matter how many times Kagome told herself that Naraku was wrong, she couldn't get those words out of her head; that maybe, just maybe, Inuyasha _was_ like that.

And if _Inuyasha_ used her? That was one thing she wouldn't be able to bounce back from. Because it was Inuyasha, her knight in shining armor, her friend, her proof that not all men were as bad as Naraku.

Because it was _her_ Inuyasha.

The good guy.

And if the good guy really was a bad guy? That would shake her to the core.

Several minutes later, Kagome looked into the mirror and decided she looked halfway presentable. With a deep breath, she forced herself to retreat from the bathroom.

"You feeling all right?" Inuyasha asked her when she finally wandered into the kitchen. He was standing at the stove, his tangled hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and still wearing the clothes he fell asleep in the night before. His jeans and sweater were rumpled and a day's worth of stubble shadowed his jaw line.

Kagome gave him a rehearsed smile, brushing her hands down her own wrinkled jeans. "Fine, fine."

Inuyasha scowled at her vague answer, but returned to fixing breakfast all the same. The phone began to ring shrilly, startling him from his thoughts. "Hey, Kagome, can you get that?" he asked, watching the boiling water. He didn't have the nerve to face her yet after her reaction that morning, so looking at food was the only alternative he could think of.

"Yeah, ok." She beamed a real smile at him this time, but since his back was turned to her, he missed it. She shoved her previous thoughts from her mind and was relieved when the bad feeling in her gut lessened as she chose to pretend that morning had never happened. "Hello, Youkai residence." Kagome tucked her hair behind an ear with one hand, frowning into the phone. "Sango?" she asked uncertainly after the person on the other end spoke. It sounded like Sango... Only more frantic and worried than she'd heard the brunette in a long time.

At the stove, Inuyasha heard the buzz of someone shouting through the phone. Wondering why Sango would be yelling at Kagome; he turned to ask what was going on just in time to see Kagome faint. Thankfully, he caught her around the shoulders before her limp form hit the kitchen floor.

The last thing Kagome remembered before her mind went black were Sango's words.

"_Kagome! I've been trying— we've all been trying— to find you for hours! Something happened to the boys; you have to get here right away_!"

**Next Chapter: A Family's Fate**


	2. A Family's Fate

Edited: 7/22/2011

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Two: A Family's Fate

* * *

"Ms. Taijai?" an older gentleman asked the brunette perched on the edge of the living room couch; she had a phone clamped to her ear. He was a grizzly guy, dressed in a trench coat with leather patches at the elbows. His weary brown eyes watched the young woman as he absently scratched at his scruffy gray mustache.

"Yes?" Sango turned away from the receiver in her hand; away from the ominous dial tone. She had an odd look on her face, a mixture of anxiety and denial. "Is there any news, Detective Yagi?" she asked the man, her expression changing into one of desperate hope when she saw that it was he who she was talking to. The situation pulled at his heartstrings, especially the frantic look in the girl's eyes.

The detective gave a slow shake of his head, turning his eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry, but there are no reports as of yet. Did you get in contact with Ms. Higurashi?"

Sango let out a sound half way between a confirmation and a cry. "I found Kagome, but she... The line went dead."

The older man looked grim. "That family is a magnet for trouble, I swear." He shook his head again, smiling bitterly. "First the problem with Naraku and now this! Ms. Higurashi is a good person; she deserves a simpler life."

Sango frowned, cradling her chin in her hands. Her long, mahogany-colored hair was tangled, looking as though she'd done little more than run her hand through it a few times. Her skin was paler than its usual healthy glow, and her eyes were emptier than most people were used to seeing them. "I agree... But she still has us, just like she did last time."

"Which is a good thing, Ms. Taijai. She'll need your support," he informed her. "Try to get a hold of her again; we really need to get some statements." When Sango agreed to give it another go, Detective Yagi left the room to join his colleagues— the swarm of cops crowding Sango's front yard.

Sango watched him leave with worried eyes and got up after him to shut the door once he was gone. Leaning her back against the rough wood, she punched in Inuyasha's home phone number again and waited impatiently for someone to answer.

No one ever did.

* * *

"Damn it, Kagome! Get up! What the hell is going on?" Inuyasha growled, taking the woman by the shoulders and shaking her firmly. Her head rolled with the motion, her chin coming to rest on her chest, but she didn't wake up. Her eyelids twitched, telling him that whatever was going on in that mind of hers was not good. What could Sango have said to her that would end up with her collapsing like she did? Inuyasha didn't even know people actually fainted any more. He tapped her cheek gently with two fingers, hoping it would rouse her... And also hoping nothing too serious had happened.

Kagome could vaguely hear him. His voice was clear yet distant at the same time. She welcomed the darkness that was surrounding her. It cushioned her mind, making her feel isolated from the harsh reality of life. But something nagged at the back of her mind, gnawed at the edge of her knowledge. Waking up would be a bad thing; that's what that something was saying. She'd really regret it if she woke up now. Something was wrong— terribly wrong.

Hadn't she already done all this? Hadn't she already paid her dues? Didn't she already face the bad part of her life and triumph? Didn't she deserve a break?

She damn well felt like it.

Against her will, she grudgingly began to come to. "They just can't leave me alone, can they?" she murmured to that annoying, rough voice that wouldn't let her have the peace she so desperately craved right then.

The cursing stopped and was momentarily replaced by a gruff voice with a hint of concern. "Who can't?"

Kagome flinched; she could already feel a migraine brewing behind her closed eyes, pressing angrily against her temples. "Them," she finally grumbled, bringing a hand to the bride of her nose. She accompanied this statement with a shrug-like motion that one can only do when sprawled on the ground.

"Them who?" Inuyasha snapped from where he was kneeling over her, one hand carefully holding the back of her head to keep it from hitting the hard kitchen floor. He pulled her into a half sitting position against him, and then moved that hand until his entire arm cradled her.

Kagome stubbornly refused to open her eyes, to scatter the darkness that embraced her. "Fate, destiny. The bastards that enjoy messing with my life."

The irritating drone of the dial tone filled the room, caused by the phone hanging by its cord off the wall. Somehow, Kagome had hit the end button on her way down, cutting off whoever she was talking to, but the phone swung freely, bumping against the wall every once in awhile.

"Kagome, was that Sango on the phone? What did she say?" Inuyasha asked, annoyed that she was still squeezing her eyes shut and refusing to fully recover from fainting. He doubted a simple _Kagome you don't look good in gray_ could bring this on. The dial tone continued to buzz in his ear, making him want to rip the entire damn phone out of the wall in frustration. Finally, having gone on long enough, the tone was replaced by the voice of a robotic operator. The message was repeated twice by the computerized voice before sound was cut off completely.

Prying her eyes open to look up at him a little bitterly, Kagome sighed. "I can't believe I fainted... It's just... Sango said something happened to my boys, and I just—"

Inuyasha cut her off. "Wait, what happened to Souta and Shippou? Are they all right?" he snapped harshly, forgetting that he should probably be nicer to her, considering it was _her _brother and adopted son that were in trouble. When that thought finally registered, the moment had passed where he could have apologized for being such an ass.

Kagome shook her head, a weird noise catching in her throat. Inuyasha pulled her to her feet, wrapping an arm around her waist when she swayed a little. She tried to get her vision to stop swimming, and when it did, she pried his arm off. Taking a tentative step on her own, she started towards the kitchen doorway. "Come on, we need to get over to Sango's house right away."

Inuyasha trailed after her, grabbing each of their winter coats when they made it to the entryway. Kagome yanked on her boots, letting the laces dangle, and waited impatiently for Inuyasha to pull his own shoes on.

"Hurry," he muttered, taking her by the arm and helping her out the door. As they headed towards her red pickup truck, they both shrugged into their coats. Sloshing through the muddy snow, they reached the monster of a vehicle, and Inuyasha helped her up into the truck's passenger seat. Once she was safely inside, he shut the door, hurried around the hood of the truck, and climbed into the driver's seat.

The drive to Sango's was too long for either of their liking. Kagome stared glumly out the window; thoughts whirled through her brain, each idea making her more worried than the last. Were they in a car accident? Did one of them eat something poisonous? Did they get kicked out of school? Were they hurt?

Were they even alive?

Too many things fell in the category of 'something happened to the boys.'

Finally pulling into the impossibly long stretch of asphalt, also known as Sango's impressive driveway, they parked in front of their friend's home. The building radiated with intimidation, but it wasn't the massive house that sent the pair in the red pickup into shock. The dozens of police patrolling the lawn did that just fine. Cops of all heights, ranks, and age were wandering the grounds. Some were huddled together, others were standing alone. A few dogs in black vests were sniffing the ground... Sniffing as if searching for something.

"What the fuck?" Inuyasha whispered as several of the policemen approached the truck to identify the new arrivals. Kagome nodded in silent agreement, too freaked out to say anything. Her stomach clenched nervously, making her feel physically ill.

"Name?" an impatient, burly man demanded as he reached the vehicle and tapped her window roughly.

Kagome opened the passenger side door as calmly as she could, careful not to hit the officer, and climbed down. Inuyasha practically kicked his door open and jumped out, glaring at the police who walked towards them until a few fell back, obviously a little unsettled. Kagome sent him a pleading look, and he was instantly at her side, one hand on the small of her back, giving her support. Turning back to the officer, she returned his glare unblinkingly. "Higurashi, Kagome," she stated in a soft, clear tone.

The man openly balked. "Oh, shit! So you're her, huh?"

She gave a small nod. "What's going on?" she asked, her voice quiet, weak even. Before the man could answer, however, a shriek cut him off.

"Kagome!" Sango shoved her way through the group of men and women beginning to crowd around the truck. Even without a coat on the freezing winter day, the brunette was panting heavily, a wild look in her eyes. As soon as she was within reach of Kagome, Sango pulled the younger woman into a crushing hug. "I'm so sorry," she kept repeating in her ear. Over Kagome's shoulder, Sango sent a vexed look to Inuyasha who stared back at her, not understanding.

Kagome began to return the embrace, but pulled away at the last moment. "What's going on, Sango?"

Sango shifted a little under her friend's piercing blue eyes and found her nails suddenly very interesting. She looked down at her hands miserably, knowing full well that she was going to have to be honest with her friend about what had happened, but wishing she didn't have to be the one to deliver such horrible news. She was saved from doing so by her boyfriend.

"Kagome? Inuyasha?" Miroku shouted as he followed Sango's example by elbowing his way through the cops to reach the truck. A few gave him some choice words, but his naturally calm demeanor kept him from snapping back at them. Reaching his friends, he immediately pulled the blue-eyed woman into a quick hug. He finally released her and ran a hand through his unclasped hair, a sure sign that he was bothered.

"Miroku?" Kagome asked tentatively. It was the first time she'd ever seen him so uncollected, and a lot had happened in the four months that she'd known him.

"You're okay?" He nodded to himself before she could answer, choosing instead to look her up and down and confirming it for himself. He was half tempted to reach out to pat her down in an attempt to prove that she was really standing in front of him. "Good. They kept saying that it was so planned out that it wouldn't have been surprising if you were missing, too."

"Who kept saying that?" Kagome asked, bewildered, her mind spinning as she tried to keep her world from crashing down around her ears.

"The police."

"Oh. So who might have gotten me?" she pressed.

"The people who got the boys," Miroku answered tersely. He said it so simply that it took Kagome and Inuyasha a few seconds for the words to fully sink in.

One hand clutched at her heart, while the other covered her mouth. Kagome felt the tears well up, but she valiantly ignored them in favor of keeping her eyes glued on Miroku's. "And who would that be?" she whispered through her fingers.

Miroku closed his eyes, looking pained. "Well, the kidnappers, of course."

* * *

"Detective Yagi?" Sango called as she shouldered open the door to her office, peeking her head around the doorjamb to look at the old man.

He lifted his eyes in time to see her step aside to allow the other three in. Closing the door behind them, Sango stepped up to stand beside Miroku. Reaching out, she grabbed his hand, and he threaded his fingers through hers. "Ms. Taijai? You found Ms. Higurashi, and even Mr. Youkai, I see."

"Yeah." Sango clawed a hand through her tangled hair for the umpteenth time that morning, looking exhausted. "They came here right after I called earlier."

"What details were you given?" Yagi asked, getting straight to the point.

"The only thing we have so far is that the kids are missing." Inuyasha crossed his arms to give a menacing glare at the older man. He didn't like cops all that much, even if this was the same detective who they'd spoken with after the Naraku incident three months ago.

Kagome put a calming hand on his arm, which seemed to work, before settling herself into a chair. "I'd like to know exactly what's going on," she told him gently, giving the detective her undivided attention.

Rubbing his forehead tiredly, Yagi tried to locate a relatively safe place to start. "Have you been watching the news lately, Ms. Higurashi?"

"Yeah," Kagome answered slowly, sinking deeper into the cushions, trying to mentally prepare herself for the worst.

"Have you seen the press coverage on the local disappearances?" the detective pressed. Miroku and Sango sat next to one another on the couch while Inuyasha leaned against one of the walls. Although Detective Yagi was focused solely on Kagome, the others were listening intently as well. Inuyasha winced when he saw Kagome's crestfallen expression. He really wanted to just reach out, to make her feel better, but something inside him told him he shouldn't get close to her right that minute, because he'd regret it if he tried—she was upset enough to reject him without thinking first.

"A few minutes here and there," the blue eyed girl cautiously answered, sliding a glance to Sango and Miroku. The couple was giving one another looks ripe with meaning, not noticing that this was making Kagome's anxiousness grow.

"Well, 110, now 112 counting your adopted son and brother, children have gone missing," Yagi informed her.

Kagome felt her heart sink. "Yeah, I remember hearing something about that."

"They aren't... _normal_ kidnappings, though." The detective struggled for the right words. "In the last month, 112 children ages six to thirteen have gone missing all over Japan. Each kidnapping was carefully planned, then executed flawlessly. Details were known about the children and their families that could have only been found out through extensive research. Such as their daily schedules, when exactly the child would be left alone, and how to get into the house without leaving anything behind."

Kagome nodded slowly, figuring what he meant was that they weren't dealing with amateurs. "Why Shippou and Souta?" her brow creased with frustration. Her hands clenched at her sides, her fingernails digging into her palms.

"We're still trying to find the connection between the kids." Before Detective Yagi could finish fully answering her question, Sango's nanny, Kaede, stepped into the room after a brief knock. Kagome, who'd grown closer to the woman over the last few months, looked pleadingly at her.

"Kagome, child, I was watching Souta last night when he was taken. Do you remember that Sango and Miroku took Kohaku out?" she asked gently as she hobbled forward.

"Yes, Kaede," Kagome whispered, respectful enough not to hound the old woman with questions. "Before you say anything else, I just want to make sure that you know no matter what, I don't blame you."

"Thank you, child. As I went upstairs to fold some laundry, I left your child in the living room with some ice cream to finish before I would send him to bed. When I came back down half an hour later, around 10:30, the door was open, and he was gone. At first I thought that he had only run outside to play in the snow, but when he didn't come back, I called the police," Kaede explained.

Detective Yagi picked up where she left off. "That was when we called your mother to alert her. We found out that your son was also missing. He was taken from the old shrine in Kyoto where you grew up and where Shippou was currently staying with his grandmother."

"Miroku, Kohaku, and I arrived home soon after that. We couldn't find you," Sango added now, looking remorseful. "We called your apartment first and also asked your mother if she knew where you were. Then we called Kouga's cell phone since I knew you and Souta were hanging out with him yesterday afternoon, but he didn't answer. We tried both your cell phone and Inuyasha's."

Kagome closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead with one hand. "I was at Inuyasha's; we were watching a movie. I didn't bring my cell phone with... I didn't think I'd need it. His phone must have ringed during the movie, and we didn't answer it." Her shoulders slumped as the guilt crashed down on her. Her boys were gone, and she'd been too busy with her own life to learn that theirs were in danger.

"Ms. Higurashi, this must be a big shock. I suggest you go lay down before we explain this any further and in more detail. Go get a little rest," the detective commanded gently when he saw her expression caving in, making her appear as though she'd crawled deep inside herself.

"Thank you, I think I will," she muttered faintly as she stood up, swaying noticeably. She turned to leave and tried desperately to ignore all the pitying looks she was given from her friends.

* * *

"Kagome?" Inuyasha called softly as he opened the door to the room she was supposedly resting in. He had a feeling she was still awake, and he was not disappointed. Looking out at the forest beyond Sango's property line, she didn't seem to register that she was no longer in the room alone. "Kagome?" he asked again, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Without looking behind her, Kagome's own hand found its way up on top of his. "It can't be true," she murmured. "I just saw them. Souta yesterday afternoon and Shippou the morning before. Can people really disappear that quickly?"

Inuyasha gave her hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry... They _are_ gone, but we'll get them back, I swear. And when I finally get my hands on those bastards who did this, I'll fucking string them up by their lungs and leave them to die," he said harshly. His anger brewed until he was interrupted by Kagome…

Laughing?

"Uh, Kagome?"

"Yeah?" she asked, looking up at him with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, which remained empty and lifeless.

Inuyasha stared down at her with a bewildered expression. Kagome spun around in her seat and reached up to pat his cheek gently, the fake grin still plastered on her face. "I'm fine! Stop worrying... We'll find them, I know we will, so I'm not going to let myself get worked up over nothing," she told him, waving him away as though the only problem she was facing was a difficult client for work.

Inuyasha gave her one more disbelieving look, but squeezed her hand and started to back out of the room anyway. "In that case, I think I'll go check in with the police and see if I can help with anything. Get some rest."

"All right," she replied as the door snapped shut behind him. Once she was sure he was gone, Kagome dropped the fake smile and clawed at her face. Cupping it in her hands, she tried to stifle her sobs as her shoulders shook violently. Inuyasha leaned against the door on the other side, listening to her cry, too afraid to do so in front of him to keep him from worrying. To him, the sound of her sobs was even worse than the idea that the boys were currently missing. That was because to him, Kagome's crying was more real at that moment.

He walked away a minute or two later, silently promising himself that he would do whatever it took to make sure she never cried like that again.

Kagome swiped at her wet cheeks with the palms of her hands, trying to console herself by remembering how resourceful Souta and Shippou were. She reminded herself that, because of Naraku, the boys were not as naive as others their age. They could take care of themselves. They would be fine, because they had to be.

Over the last two months, she'd heard frequent reports about the 110, now 112, children missing from their homes and loved ones. There were no demands for money, and there was no evidence left behind to point to the kidnappers. The police were almost positive that all of the cases were related. But, unlike with most missing children cases, the government believed the children were still alive. But why take them? How could kids between the ages of six and thirteen be useful?

_I can think of a few things_, Kagome thought grimly, clenching a fist against her knee. And none of them were very pleasant.

* * *

"Why are so many cops here?" Inuyasha asked as he leaned over the back of Sango's chair in her study.

His long hair draped around her face, and she impatiently swatted at it. "Detective Yagi said that the police are pretty much fed up and feel they need to pool their resources on this case. I felt so bad about Souta getting lifted right from under my nose that I offered my house as a sort of home base."

"You should have forced Miroku to do that, and then you wouldn't have had to deal with all this crap," he grouched. The idea of the torture that would be inflicted upon his friend made him want to smirk, despite the circumstances.

Sango rolled her eyes, even though she knew Inuyasha couldn't see her do so from the angle he was standing. "I'd like to help out with this. I think it's important to find these kids! I don't know what I'd do if Kohaku was kidnapped. Kagome must be going through hell right now."

"Actually, I'm feeling fine."

Inuyasha and Sango nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard her speaking from the doorway. The two stood up and watched as a calm Kagome walked into the study and closed the door behind her. Her eyes weren't as lifeless as before, and they had a small spark to them... They were resigned but determined. Kagome squared her shoulders and looked each of her friends in the eye. "No matter what anyone thinks right now, _I_ know that Souta and Shippou are fine. We will find them, and we will get them back. Right now, I'm not worried."

And she meant it.

**Next Chapter: Reconstruction**


	3. Reconstruction

As with _Dashed Hopes_, you can expected light-hearted scenes in addition to the more serious ones. This story will not be a total downer!

Edited: 7/22/2011

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Three: Reconstruction

* * *

"Kagome," Inuyasha said softly, watching as she turned to face him with a determined look on her face as she readied herself to deny any negative comments he had to make. It felt good to surprise her. "If you're that confident in this," he started slowly, "Then I believe you're right."

It felt good to be surprised, too, apparently. "Thank you, Inuyasha." The brilliant smile she sent his way for his statement of support made his heart skip a beat. Kagome then turned to Sango. "And how about you?"

The brunette pursed her lips and carefully formed her words. "Kagome, you have the best intuition I have ever seen. If you're this sure, than why the hell not? You must be right."

A slow clapping started from behind Kagome, and she whipped around to face a grinning Miroku. "Bravo, Kagome! You know I'm always on your side," he announced with a wink.

Immediately, Kagome's cheeks flushed pink— not from embarrassment but from gratitude. "Thanks, Miroku!"

The air of camaraderie in the room left Inuyasha feeling both bolstered a little sick—his friends' touchy-feely natures never failed to amaze him. "I think our flower-power session has gone on long enough," he muttered, pushing away from his position leaning against Sango's armchair. "I'm getting out of here before anyone asks me to hug a tree or become a vegetarian." With that, he strode right through the study doorway.

"You have the hair for it!" Kagome called after him, laughing cheerfully. Inuyasha was relieved to hear that it was a real one, not that fake, strained giggle from earlier. He was sure she wasn't in denial; instead, it was like Kagome had decided to take life by the horns.

_Good for you, Kagome; you'll get through this. I know you will._

An hour later found Inuyasha back behind the wheel of Kagome's pickup truck. Honestly, he liked the feel of the big vehicle under his control; Inuyasha was the kind of man who liked to rule the road. After several moments of silence filled only by the dulcet sounds from the radio, he glanced away from the road and over to Kagome. "What are you doing?"

Kagome looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. "Annoying you, apparently, but that's just a side benefit. I'm _humming_, you big dolt."

Keeping his eyes on the road, he glared hoping that she understood that his heated expression was meant for her. "I know that! I mean, _w__hy _are you humming?"

Her big blue eyes rolled towards the ceiling in exasperation. "What, would you rather I sang instead?"

"Whatever. Do what you want," he muttered. In truth, he liked her singing, but compliments never came easily to him. At first he wasn't sure Kagome would go through with her threat, but after several moments, she start to sing along to the pop song on the radio. Every so often, her eyes would flick over to him to gauge his reaction, so Inuyasha carefully kept his expression neutral. Pink cheeks proved that she was a little embarrassed, but it was a relief to know that she felt comfortable enough to sing in front of him.

The song came to an end just as Inuyasha pulled up to a red light. He drummed his fingers on the wheel impatiently, waiting for it to change. He glanced over at her, studying her profile as she looked out the window—her small nose and chin, the way her long eye lashes brushed against her cheeks every time she blinked, and the curve of her ear poking out through her thick hair. "You look tired," he murmured, almost reaching over to brush his hand against hers. "You should have slept when Detective Yagi sent you upstairs to rest."

Her eyes slid over to him. "How do you know I didn't sleep?"

Nonchalantly, he shrugged. "You know how earlier Sango was talking about how great your intuition was? Well—"

With a mock gasp, Kagome cut him off. "No! Don't tell me you have woman's intuition, too!" she teased, waggling her fingers in his direction.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up. A man can have a good intuition, too. It's called going with your gut."

Laughing, Kagome mimicked his eye-roll. "Everyone knows that only women have natural intuition about things," she countered with a haughty sniff. "Oh, wait, I guess animals do, too."

He scowled. "You know, sometimes I feel like you treat me like a moron instead of treating certain others like one who deserve it more," Inuyasha responded pointedly.

Blowing her cheeks out in annoyance, she eyed him. "Inuyasha! Could we have one, just _one_, conversation where you didn't insult my poor Kouga!"

"_Your_ poor Kouga?" he echoed, his eyes wide with sincere shock. "Wow. I didn't know he had you that wrapped around his little finger like that."

For a moment, Kagome just blinked back at him. Then, she rubbed her eyes tiredly, looking worn out. "Maybe I am a little tired. I meant to just say 'my poor friend.' Sorry." She snapped her mouth shut, realizing belatedly that she'd just apologized to Inuyasha for making him uncomfortable by laying claim to her old high school friend. That almost sounded like he was jealous, and she was apologizing for making him feel that way.

Purposely not looking at her, still feeling a little uncomfortable about the direction the conversation had gone, Inuyasha took a turn cautiously. "It takes forever to get home," he muttered under his breath.

"Home? Wait, where are we?" Kagome peered out her window, studying the buildings they were driving past. "Inuyasha, we placed my place ten minutes ago. Where are we going?" Her voice sounded almost panicked.

"Take it easy, there. I mean _my_ home, where you'll be staying for awhile." Sensing the argument brewing in his companion, Inuyasha kept his eyes stubbornly on the road. Sometimes, Kagome could be the most difficult person he knew.

She gaped at him. "I'm not staying there! I have my own home; what if they call me for help?"

Inuyasha sighed. "Look, Kagome. While you were upstairs, Sango, Miroku, Detective Yagi, and I talked about what would be best for you. They don't want you staying alone, especially in that big apartment of yours, so you need to stay with one of us. Sango is housing almost two dozen cops at her house, and I don't think you want to live with Miroku voluntarily."

"So that leaves you," she concluded, her expression torn between being relieved to be staying somewhere she felt safe and being upset that they were dictating her life for her. "But what if the boys call? I need to be home!"

Inuyasha glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but he looked away when it came time to turn into his driveway. "I brought that up. The police are going to have someone watching all calls to and from our houses—_all_ our houses, including mine and yours. If the kidnappers try to contact you anywhere, then the cops will know right away no matter where the call is going to."

That issued settled, Kagome turned her attention to other ones.

"What about clothes for me?" Kagome just now realized that she was still in the jeans and sweater she'd slept in, the ones she'd been wearing when she arrived at Inuyasha's the evening before.

"Tomorrow is Sunday. I'll drive you over to your apartment and give you a hand in grabbing some things."

He put the truck into park and then turned the engine off. Walking around, he opened Kagome's door and helped her out, letting his hand linger over hers long after he could have let go.

"Thank you," Kagome told him quietly, finally retracting her hand from his. That morning— waking up pressed so tightly against him— flared up in her mind. She turned away to hide her blushing cheeks and led the way to Inuyasha's front door.

"You know the room you can stay in." He pointed down one corridor of the maze-like home toward the room she had lived in three months before, back when her life had been a complete mess that other time. It was as though she was taking two steps back instead of one step forward.

Just as Inuyasha began walking to the kitchen, her soft voice caught him.

"Just like old times. Right, Inuyasha?"

And then she was gone.

* * *

In the morning, Inuyasha left his room and paused at the bathroom door that was across from his and Kagome's bedrooms. He could hear muffled singing. Afraid to get caught listening, he nonetheless pressed his ear to the wall on the opposite side of the shower to listen to Kagome pour her anger and sadness into some popular rock song. Her voice was louder, because she didn't know anywhere could hear her, and it only grew more and more pumped as time went on.

She was so comfortable in his home. Why couldn't she just realize that already?

Feeling sorry for himself—which in turn made him angry at himself—Inuyasha forced himself to walk away.

Not even ten minutes later, Kagome wandered into the kitchen, towel drying her hair, to find him standing at the stove. "Morning. What's for breakfast?"

"Ramen."

She groaned.

"Hey, now, don't do that," he scolded her, taking the pot of noodles off of the stove and bringing it over to her to show her its contents. Kagome chose pointedly not to mention the fact that he was wearing a pink apron. "Look, it's _egg _ramen. Perfectly acceptable for breakfast!"

She groaned again.

"Seriously?" he asked her with a scowl. Angrily, he set a bowl on the counter in front of her and scooped out a serving. "Sit down and eat."

"Yes, sir," his houseguest muttered sarcastically, poking her meal with a fork.

The duo finished breakfast quickly, and Inuyasha lent Kagome a button-up shirt to wear over her jeans instead of the sweater she'd been stuck in. He had to very carefully keep himself from mentioning how good she'd look just in his shirt and with nothing else. This little fantasy made the car ride to her apartment downtown much more awkward than it should have been, especially since Kagome didn't understand what was making Inuyasha so tense.

Half an hour later, Inuyasha stared in horror at the six suitcases Kagome had managed to fill with clothing and various 'necessities.' What had happened to that girl three months ago who lived out of a duffle bag? "Please tell me that in one of these bags is that pair of tight, low-rise jeans that look so good on you."

It took him a minute to regain his balance after Kagome chucked a shoe at him with an embarrassed squeal.

"Inuyasha! I only wear those when I'm cleaning. I grew out of those jeans when I was _fifteen_. You and Miroku will never let me live that down, will you?" she demanded hotly, her cheeks pink, as she recalled the time the boys had dropped by unannounced only to find her dusting her apartment while wearing ridiculous tight clothes. It had also been laundry day.

"I hope that I never forget that visual," he said with a suggestive wagged of his eyebrows. Kagome threw the shoe's twin, but he managed to duck out of the way in time. "What are you doing? Planning to hold a fashion show? You have way too much for a few days."

She brushed him off. "We don't know how long I'm staying. Plus I need an outfit for work, for after-work activities, if I go out to a nice place, and any scenario that might come up. It'll be easier if I have everything on hand than coming back here every time I'm missing something!"

He chose not to comment, actually seeing logic in this.

"Damn!" she mumbled, tugging at the zipper on the last suitcase.

"What's wrong?"

"It. Won't. Shut." Kagome put all her weight into it, yanking as hard as she could.

He shrugged and came over to sit on the suitcase, which gave her just enough leeway to get it closed. "Better?"

"Yeah. You know what?" She tucked some hair that fell out of her ponytail behind an ear, grinning widely at him. "If I was a mean person, I'd comment about your fat ass's amazing ability to do the impossible."

He scowled. "But you're not a mean person, right?"

Her smile widened. "Of course! Which is why I won't say anything about your fat ass—"

"Kagome!"

"Okay, okay, I'm stopping now."

"Are you officially done now?" he asked, meaning the packing and not the teasing.

"Yeah, sure, I guess." She shrugged, taking one last look around her apartment to make sure there wasn't anything obvious that she was forgetting. Unfortunately, her eyes lit on her desk where several pictures were propped up. The ones of Souta and Shippou brought tears to her eyes, but she shoved the overwhelming feeling back to the pit of her stomach before it could bubble up into her throat. "Yeah," she repeated finally, her voice a lot less humorous than before. "I'm done."

"Good. It only took you three hours of my Sunday." Inuyasha pulled several of the suitcases into his arms and started to the door, glad that there was an elevator to help with all of her crap.

As Kagome followed, dragging one suitcase in each hand, she suddenly snapped upright. "Wait!" She clapped her hands together, the suitcases tumbling to the ground. "I forgot shoes!"

Inuyasha groaned, giving up and just dropping the suitcases altogether. Prepared to wait forever, he collapsed to the ground and wondered if he could get a nap in.

* * *

Kagome was bobbing her head along to the song on the radio, something about the singer wanting the girl that all the bad guys want, when Inuyasha started to poke at the buttons. "What you do that for?" Kagome asked curiously as Inuyasha frantically searched for another song. _My Will_ by Dream came on, and Kagome eagerly slapped his hand away. "Stop there! I love this song. …Now why'd you change it?"

He scowled and kept his eyes on the road. "Didn't like it," he grunted, his mind conjuring images of Naraku—the baddest "bad guy" he'd ever met— with Kagome.

"Okay, sure," she mumbled, letting it drop. "You have a thing for changing the channel from songs I like on the radio. Every time we're in the car, you always do it!"

"I don't switch them _every _time. I'm letting you listen to this, right?"

She huffed in exasperation. Rolling her eyes, she patted him on the shoulder. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"Anyway… What's next on our agenda?" Kagome questioned as she watched all the shops pass by the truck window. They, and the credit cards in her purse, seemed to be calling to her.

"That's easy. Go home. Take a nap. Get up. Eat ramen. Go back to sleep. Get up. Go to work."

"Wow," she muttered. "You've got this all planned out, don't you?"

"Oh yeah," he joked with a wink. "I'm really organized!"

Kagome snorted. "Uh huh," she agreed, although not very convincingly. "Any room in that plan that would give me time to go shopping?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you need a nap, too."

"I do not! What are you, my mother?" Kagome frowned indignantly.

"No, but I'm watching over you!"

"Fine; I'll rephrase my question. What are you, my protector?"

"Yes," he responded instantly.

Kagome began to tap her head into the dashboard. "When I'm home, my grandfather treats me like I'm four. When I'm here, Souta treats me like he's the adult. When I'm at work, Sesshoumaru watches me like an older brother, and _now _I have an over-zealous man to be my 'protector'! Since when did I become a damsel in distress?" she demanded.

"Ever since you were born a woman?" Inuyasha suggested innocently.

* * *

"Oh, my god!" A frantic woman slammed her heel down on the brake. "Why is that woman strangling that man? He's driving!"

The man in her passenger seat held on tightly as he watched the little silver convertible swerve on the busy Tokyo road. "I don't know, but I'm going to be sick!"

* * *

"Inuyasha!" a severely pissed off woman roared. "You chauvinistic pig!"

"Kagome! I'm _driving_!" he shouted back.

"I don't care. First of all, that was a rhetorical question. And second, what do you mean _because I'm a woman_? You sexist bastard!"

"Kagome, calm down. Take your hands off my neck until after I pull over!"

"Absolutely not. Die, Inuyasha!"

Flashing red lights in Inuyasha's rearview mirror caught his eyes. "Uh… Kagome?"

Finally, she loosened her stranglehold on his throat and dropped her hands to her lap, instantly looking like the sweet girl that most people—everyone but Inuyasha sometimes—thought she really was. "Oh, hey, police. You better pull over!"

* * *

"Kid!" a man with a harsh voice shouted as he kicked a small boy awake.

The little boy peered up at him through his bangs with big, weary brown eyes. "What do you want?" he snapped, not letting the situation tear his spirit away.

"Stay awake when you're around here," the man snarled as he swept an arm around the dimly lit room. "You never know what'll happen if you let your guard down." The creep actually snickered at his thinly veiled threat.

"Kagome will find me," the boy announced confidently. "My sister will get me out of here! And Inuyasha will help. You, _bastards_!" Souta leapt up from the freezing concrete floor to lunge at his captor.

The man easily knocked the thin boy away, chuckling when Souta fell to the ground and tore his jeans. "You might not want to try that again until you've eaten something. Why waste your strength; you haven't had food since we found you," the captor snarled.

"I don't care." Souta huffed, speaking to his kidnapper like he thought Inuyasha or Kouga would. He wouldn't let them think he was afraid. "I'm not hungry." He glowered up at the man from where he'd landed on his back.

"If you feel that way, then you can skip tonight's meal, too. Why waste food when it's not wanted?"

Souta refused to answer.

The man gave a short laugh before leaving the enclosed space. The young boy took a few glances around, and waited for the footsteps to die away. As soon as he was sure his kidnapper was gone, he propped himself up and looked out the window set high on the wall. It wasn't even nighttime yet. It felt like time had frozen.

He got up and walked over to the door, able to look through the tiny, barred window there once he stood on his tip-toes. Along the hall stretching away from him, Souta saw multiple doors just like his lining the walls.

_I have to find Shippou and get out of here. I have to, before they put me to work like the rest. Kagome and Inuyasha are strong, but can they get past all _seven_ of those men?_

Souta closed his eyes and backed away until he came to a corner. Sliding down the wall, he curled into a small ball for warmth. He reminded himself that real men don't cry and kept his tears at bay.

"They'll save me."

**Next Chapter: Prophecy**


	4. Prophecy

Since I already brought in Nobunaga (remember that he is an intern at the Inutaisho Company and a friend of Kagome's), I am bringing in Tsuyu, the princess that he helps save in the manga.

Edited: 7/26/2011

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Four: Prophecy

* * *

It had seemed like forever since the men had gotten together to hang out, so Inuyasha and Miroku left Kagome to Sango and took off for the afternoon. Seeing as Inuyasha was the one driving, they naturally managed to end up at a ramen shop. Rather than just a stand, it was a decent-sized restaurant, so they were seated at a small table across from one another. Inuyasha was on his second bowl, while Miroku had been thoughtfully picking at his rice for the last ten minutes without saying anything.

"Inuyasha…?" he asked finally, glancing up at his best friend as calmly as he could.

"Yeah?" Inuyasha answered in a gurgling kind of way. He continued to shovel unbelievably amounts of food into his mouth—more than should have been humanly possible.

With a deep breath, Miroku picked his question apart before putting it back together in his head. Finally, he decided to be direct with his query, not to beat around the bush, but come straight out with it.

"Do you love Kagome?"

Silence settled around them as Inuyasha paused from his gorging session and flicked his dark eyes to his friend. Truly thinking it over, Inuyasha gnawed on the tips of the chopsticks still stuck in his mouth. Miroku snuffed out the urge to comment about the unbelievable fact that his friend looked like he was in deep thought and waited for the answer.

Like a wet dog, Inuyasha shook himself vigorously and stated bluntly, "No."

Miroku flinched. He'd expected shouting or obviously fake declarations that it wasn't true. A shocked expression crossed his face as he watched the businessman go right back to eating with renewed vigor.

"Are you sure?" Miroku asked as he pushed his lunch away in order to lean in closer. His eyes scoured Inuyasha's face for clues that his friend was lying, but he couldn't find any. Miroku had been so sure…

It seemed like he wouldn't get to finish his meal in peace, so Inuyasha gave up with a scowl. "Do I love Kagome?" he repeated the question. "No, I don't."

Another deep breath and then a slow nod came from Miroku; he decided to take a different approach. Apparently being direct was not going to get him the answer he wanted. "You haven't gone on a date with anyone for almost four months, since we first met her," he pointed out shrewdly.

Inuyasha shrugged. "What? Is that illegalor something?" He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, and coolly looked at his lunch date.

"No," Miroku defended himself. "It's just… odd. You know? You were the kind of guy who dated all the time, always had a girlfriend. Now, all you do is hang out with your friends or even, sometimes, your _brother_."

The businessman actually snarled. "Are you calling me anti-social?"

Trying to placate his best friend, Miroku waved his hands around like a makeshift shield. "Of course not! I was just wondering. You two… well, you act different around each other."

Dark eyes glared at him critically. "Why are you being so _stupid_? Normally you're the smart one," Inuyasha retorted with a snort. "Just a few months ago, Kagome came out of a relationship where her boyfriend beat the crap out of her. Not only that, but when she tried to get away, he stalked and then tried to kill her," he reminded Miroku.

"I remember," the short-haired man countered slowly, screwing his eyebrows together in confusion, for once unable to follow his friend's logic.

"So," Inuyasha went on, "Kagome is probably terrified of relationships at the moment."

"That doesn't explain why _you_ don't date!" Miroku argued, reaching over the table to poke his friend in the chest.

Inuyasha batted his hand away and scowled deeper. "Maybe I just wanted a break," he retorted hotly. "I'm not as needy as you."

"I resent that," Miroku told him with a dignified sniff. "And you're just jealous, because I am in a committed relationship with a beautiful, intelligent woman."

"Will you finish your food already?" Inuyasha snapped, dodging the implication. "I'd like to get out of here before I grow old and have gray hair!"

"I bet Kagome would still like you if your hair was gray," Miroku mumbled stubbornly, shoving a mouthful of rice towards his face. Inuyasha took this as a cue that he could now continue to eat his lunch. With a sigh of relief, he pulled his now-cold noodles back towards him.

* * *

The silver bangles were light in Kagome's hand, but one look at the price tag made them feel a whole lot heavier. In the end, however, she decided that she could splurge a little—the bracelets would make her feel better about herself, and in turn, that would help boost her confidence to deal with the current situation. She wasn't exactly in denial about everything going on around her, but Kagome knew logically that there wasn't a whole lot she could do other than sit by the phone and go crazy. Detective Yagi had sworn to call her cell phone with any news, so Kagome figured shopping with Sango was permissible.

"Hey!" Sango called from a few feet away, holding up a denim skirt. "What do you think?"

Kagome tilted her head in thought, trying to picture Sango wearing it. "It's nice but a shorter one would show off your legs more. I can't wait for spring when we can actually wear these things."

"Yeah, I guess I am getting ahead of myself," Sango muttered, running her finger along the hem of the skirt. "Although, if I pair it with some thick tights—bright pink or blue, maybe—and some knee high boots, I could get away with this skirt in winter."

"That would be cute," Kagome agreed with a smile. Lately, she felt like she was wearing the exact same thing every single day—at work, she was always in a blouse and nice slacks or a pencil skirt. Business chic was nice, but she missed being able to dress like the young adult she was. "Thanks for coming with me," she told her friend sincerely, reaching out to place a hand on Sango's shoulder. "I understand why Inuyasha made me take the day off since people would probably hound me at the office, but I would have gone crazy if I had to be by myself all day."

"He really takes care of you, doesn't he?" Sango pointed out with a half-smile, trying to sound light-hearted and not at all forceful about the subject.

"Yeah, he does, but I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Kagome retorted stubbornly.

"I know that, and he knows that, too," the brunette said gently. "You were telling me about how you guys got pulled over yesterday when you were strangling Inuyasha. What happened next? What did the cop say?"

Kagome snapped her fingers, remembering that she'd never finished her story. "Well, first she lectured me about strangling people when they are operating a vehicle, but when I told her _why_ I was doing it—the sexist damsel in distress comment he said—she looked like she was going to help me kill him!"

The two women giggled together for several long minutes before Sango broke off, wiping a tear of mirth from the corner of her eye. "Let's go grab something to eat from the food court," she suggested, waving her hand towards the center of the mall.

As they stood in line in the department store to make their purchases—Sango decided to get the skirt and Kagome wanted the silver bangles—Kagome asked, "Hey, Sango? When you start your shelter shift in an hour, can I join you?"

"Are you really that bored?" Sango smiled and laughed at the younger girl's vigorous nod in response to her question. "Sure. I think it might be good to have someone who survived an abusive relationship to be at the shelter, to show the other women that it is possible to move on. You might be able to keep their spirits up!"

Kagome smiled faintly. "I did survive, didn't I? Well, sure."

They paid for their things and made their way to the food court. After getting some greasy burgers and fries (comfort food), the girls collapsed at a table with their bags piled at their feet. A sudden idea struck Sango.

"Oh, hey, there's a new girl at the shelter that I really want you to meet. She just came in on my last shift, four nights ago."

It went unsaid, but both Sango and Kagome couldn't help but think that four nights ago was the night before the boys were taken. Kagome remembered that night, because she'd spent it in her apartment with Souta watching some cheesy old television shows with horrible special effects. They'd laughed so hard. Shippou had already been at Mrs. Higurashi's place in Kyoto.

"Okay," Kagome responded finally, forcing herself to smile.

"Her name is Tsuyu," the brunette explained. "She was happily married to a man for a few months, but then last week he became really violent."

"Oh?" Kagome looked up from her meal, a fry halfway to her mouth. "Go on."

"Her full name is Tsuyu Ojo. Ojo, like 'princess,' you know?" Sango kept her voice low. Sharing information about people at the shelter was a huge no-no, but it was _Kagome_ that she was talking to. Kagome had even been helping around the shelter on her off days sometimes, so she was practically an employee anyway. "She's only nineteen—it was an arranged marriage. Her parents set it up."

"I will try my best to lift her spirits," Kagome promised humbly. She nodded resolutely to herself, accepting it as a challenge.

"Yay!" Sango cheered with a laugh, reaching over to pat her friend on the back of the hand. "I knew I could count on you. When we're done eating, we'll head over to the SHA. When are you going back to work?"

With an overdramatic sigh, Kagome slumped to the table in defeat. "Who knows? Maybe my guard dog will let me go back tomorrow?"

Sango snorted with laughter, picturing Inuyasha chained to a doghouse and snarling. "Maybe if you give him a treat, he'll be more open to it."

Within ten minutes, both women had finished eating. They gathered their trash, threw it all away (to the relief of the teenagers responsible for the food court's upkeep), and carried all of their bags out to Sango's car. The ride to the shelter was mostly quiet as Kagome stared out the window, trying very carefully not to think about Souta and Shippou. It helped that she had someone else to worry about now.

"Ms. Ojo?" Sango asked politely as she knocked on the young woman's door. There wasn't much noise in the building, since the Sakura Hide-Away had fewer occupants than normal.

The pretty, black-haired girl opened the door and smiled at her guests. "Just call me Tsuyu, please. Ms. Taijai, isn't it?"

"Can I speak with you a moment? Maybe down at the cafeteria; we can grab a drink if you want," the brunette requested. "And it's just Sango."

"Of course!" Tsuyu grinned and turned to the second girl. "Who is this?" she asked as she stepped into the hallway and reached behind herself to shut the door. The three women navigated the hallways until they came across the cafeteria.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi, but please call me Kagome," she introduced herself cheerfully.

"Oh! Alright," the girl echoed and nodded a little, seeming shy. They all sat down together, Tsuyu across from the two others who sat side by side. "What can I do for you?"

"Well," Sango began slowly, not wanting to scare her off. "Kagome, here, she came to the SHA for help not too long ago."

"Really?" Tsuyu raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "May I ask about what it was like? Who it was from?"

"Actually, that's why Sango brought me here. I wanted to tell you about my situation, let you know that you _can _get through this," Kagome explained with a persistent smile. Her blue eyes, however, were very sympathetic. She recognized the look in Tsuyu's eyes—the disbelieving, slightly-haunted look with just the smallest flicker of anger.

"Please," the girl encouraged, leaning forward. She was the perfect picture of an intrigued listener.

"I was in a relationship with a man for four years," Kagome started off slowly, obviously choosing her words carefully. She didn't want to make it sound like she thought Tsuyu was exactly like her; every situation was different, of course. Kagome did, however, want to show that by hearing someone else's story, a person could learn from it. "I started dating him in my last year of high school; I was only seventeen, and he was nearly twenty years old."

Tsuyu nodded for her to continue.

"His name was Naraku, and I lived with him in Kyoto. So did my little brother, Souta, and my adopted son, Shippou." Kagome almost stumbled over their names, but she steeled her voice, forcing herself to carry on speaking as though there was nothing wrong.

If Tsuyu noticed anything, she didn't mention it. During the brief encounter, both Sango and Kagome had noticed how quiet and polite the girl was. She also sat up very straight and kept her hands folded on the table in front of her. The girl really could have been a princess for all she acted like one.

"For a year before I came here, Naraku was physically abuse me. He would hit me to help relieve his anger and his frustration; he even made me believe that all the problems in our lives were _my _fault. Even though I had Souta and Shippou, even though I had a job that I was good at, Naraku made me believe that I was useless. I didn't even have contact with my family or my friends, so there was no one there to remind me of how much I had accomplished in my life."

"How horrible!" Tsuyu clapped a hand to her mouth, visibly shaken by Kagome's story. Her young husband had been screaming at her and threatening to hit her, but he hadn't laid a hand on her yet. Since she had only been with him a few months, it was easier to tear herself away; Kagome had had three years with Naraku before the abuse started, which probably explained why she had a harder time leaving him.

"Naraku was into some… heavy things. One day—one horrible, awful day—I stumbled on something I wasn't supposed to see. Naraku killed two men, and he stole something."

"What was it?" Tsuyu whispered timidly.

Over the past few months, the pain from the experience had dulled immensely. There were still nights she woke in a cold sweat, images of the jewel and Naraku and the murders swirling around her head, but talking to Tsuyu was coming so much more easily to her than she expected. "He also took a jewel known as the Shikon no Tama."

"Really?" Tsuyu's brown eyes sparkled as she leaned in a little more, suddenly very excited. "I've heard of it! I went to the museum where it was supposed to be last month, but the owner said it'd been bought a few weeks earlier."

"What?" Kagome's mouth went dry, and she struggled to swallow. "I didn't know it wasn't at the museum anymore. That jewel… it's hurt so many people; I can only hope the new owner treats it carefully."

There was a moment of silence before Tsuyu reminded Kagome of the real topic at hand. "So you came to the Sakura Hide-Away?"

"Yes; this is where I met Sango. She and her friends—they're my friends now, too— helped me out."

"Did Naraku ever come after you?" Tsuyu asked, her eyes round with curiosity.

A nod confirmed the girl's suspicions. "Actually, he did. He came and tried to get me back. In the end, there was a horrible accident, and he died."

"A sad ending to a sad story."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Kagome admitted. "But I'm still here in Tokyo, and I'm still friends with Sango and the others. I'm happy, and I have a good life."

Tsuyu noticed how sad Kagome suddenly looked, like she had just remembered something awful. She assessed the woman who had just told her such an intimate part of her life. "You seem familiar now that I think about it," she said suddenly, tilting her head and wracking her brain.

Kagome quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"

Tsuyu's eyes widened in recognition; her voice became even softer. "Higurashi," she murmured. "I heard that on the news this weekend." Kagome and Sango flinched. "Your brother looks like you," the girl commented, remembering the picture of Souta that the news station had shown when reporting about the boys' disappearance. "I hope you find them. Such misfortune should never come to one woman." Then, Tsuyu reached forward and placed a small hand on Kagome's own. Giving it a small squeeze, she stood up. "Excuse me, but I think I will take a nap now. I hope we stay in touch; I'd like to get to know you better, Kagome."

"The same goes for me," Kagome told Tsuyu sincerely. "How about I take you to work with me soon? It would probably be nice to get out of this place for a day."

"That sounds wonderful. Sango can probably help make arrangements. Have a good day!" Tsuyu smiled before walking away.

The girls called their goodbyes after her, and all three women waved and smiled at one another.

"She was nice," Kagome said pleasantly as she gathered her things and stood up. Hearing Tsuyu talk about her brother and Shippou had even been less painful than she'd feared.

"That was nice of you, Kagome. I know you're not in the best shape, emotionally, right now. I didn't mean to make you live through it again, but I was hoping it'd help Tsuyu. She's a nice girl."

"What'll happen to her and her husband?" Kagome asked, helping Sango to her feet from the chair.

The brunette glanced in the direction the girl had disappeared to, her eyebrows knit in concern. "Tsuyu filed for divorce the day she showed up here. I've been helping to get the papers straightened out in my spare time. I don't have much to do since I don't work anywhere besides here at the SHA. Plus, it feels good to help."

Kagome nodded. "Good. Once she's gotten rid of that creep, maybe she can have a fresh start. She's younger than me, and I made a new life for myself; she can, too. I think it'd be nice to bring her to work with me. Maybe Inuyasha could even help me find a position for her?"

"Are you sure you don't just want someone with you at work who won't be standing there, pitying you?" Sango asked with a laugh.

"That, too," Kagome admitted with a sheepish grin. "I already got it out of the way with Tsuyu. I'm not sure I could sit through another five hundred times with the other employees."

"I can understand that," Sango said, patting her friend's shoulder sympathetically. "I need to go take over from Jinenji. Stay occupied; it won't do to have your mind wander," she advised wisely.

"I know. Have a good day, okay?" Kagome hugged her goodbye.

"Okay."

With one last wave, Kagome returned to the front of the shelter and grabbed her shopping bags from behind the desk. Outside, she hailed a cab, remembering that Sango had driven that day.

* * *

"Kagome, are you here? I'm home!" Inuyasha announced gruffly as he slammed into the house and shrugged off his heavy coat.

"Hey, Inuyasha!" Kagome smiled as she walked into the entryway, drying her soapy hands on a washcloth. "I was doing the dishes. Keeping my hands busy helps keep my mind busy."

Inuyasha shrugged and kicked off his boots. Instead of tucking them near the door, next to Kagome's, he left them wherever they landed. He purposely avoided the disgusted look his houseguest sent him. "How was your day?"

"Great! Sango and I got our spring shopping done this morning, and then—"

"Spring? It's the middle of _December_!" Inuyasha cut her off, incredulous.

Kagome shrugged at him with a silly grin on her face. "Exactly! Everything was on sale, so we spent less." She winked at him. "Then we went to the SHA, and I—"

"Why go there? It's so depressing."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded, waving the damp cloth in his face. He glowered down at her, but she ignored it. "If you would _stop_ interrupting me!" The way she growled low in her throat only made Inuyasha smile; it was kind of cute and not at all intimidating. "I met a girl, Tsuyu, who's really sweet. I told her about Naraku—" Inuyasha growled at the name, and she glared at him for interrupting again. He looked a little guilty and let her go on. "—And I invited her to come to work with me to keep her busy."

"Oh, wonderful," he commented dryly.

"How was your lunch?" she asked as she backtracked to the kitchen to finish the dishes and start on dinner. Inuyasha followed her like a puppy, his stomach demanding food.

"I went out with Miroku. It was okay."

"What did you talk about?" she asked innocently, looking over her shoulder from the sink.

Inuyasha plopped into a chair and shifted uncomfortably. He blushed lightly, but Kagome thankfully didn't notice. "Nothing; don't worry about it. Miroku's doing fine, by the way."

Kagome brushed off his rude answer. "That's good." She finished drying the plates and moved over to the stove to heat water for spaghetti. A thought struck her, and she turned around quickly. "Hey, Inuyasha?"

"Huh?"

"Did you know that someone bought the Shikon no Tama from the museum that the police gave it to?"

"Really?" Inuyasha answered faintly, his mind on the talk he had had at lunch and not on the one right in front of him.

Kagome sighed and gave up her attempt to start a conversation with her friend. She began to cut up herbs to add to the sun dried tomato sauce simmering on the stove. Maybe they could talk during dinner? Kagome thought about Inuyasha's mad dash to eat as fast as humanly possible and shook her head dismissively. No chance of that happening.

She'd just have to make do.

The pair had just sat down to dinner when the phone started to ring shrilly from where it was mounted on the kitchen wall. Kagome pushed herself away from her plate to answer it, but Inuyasha's hand shot out to stop her. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her back into her seat beside him at the counter, all without looking up from dinner.

"We're eating; don't answer," he grumbled around a mouthful of noodles.

Batting at his hand, Kagome scowled. "I need to answer it! Did you forget? It could be someone calling about the boys!"

Inuyasha winced when he remembered the situation, mentally hitting his head against a wall for being so stupid. It had been easy to forget with Kagome acting so normally. "Oh… right."

Quickly, Kagome pried off his fingers from her wrist and lunged for the phone just before the caller got transferred to the answering machine.

"Hello, Youkai residence, Kagome speaking!" she said in a rush.

"Hi! It's Sango."

An instantaneous reaction, Kagome smiled and leaned against the wall beside the phone. Holding the phone to her ear with a shoulder, she crossed her arms and asked, "Hey, what's going on?"

"Oh, I'm just calling from the shelter. My shift ends in," Sango broke off to glance down at her watch, "Ten minutes. Miroku's going to pick me up. I just wanted to see how you're doing."

Her heart warmed with gratitude. Kagome laughed and glanced over to smile at Inuyasha, who seemed to be listening in on the conversation. "Nothing much; just eating."

"Oh, sorry to interrupt dinner! Any news on the boys?"

Immediately, Kagome's face darkened, and Inuyasha noticed. He mouthed, "What?" silently at her.

His houseguest shook her head quietly and turned away, still leaning against the kitchen wall. "No, Sango. No news yet on Souta or Shippou. No one has called me with any updates… Are you and Kohaku still living at home with all those cops?"

Understanding her sudden shift in mood now, Inuyasha turned back to his food.

"No; we moved in with Miroku. Can you believe he's actually a _slob_?" Sango informed her friend, her laughter carrying easily over the line.

A beat passed before Kagome was surprised into giggles. "Really? I never would have guessed! He's always so prim and proper."

"Guessed what?" Inuyasha yelled from his seat, feeling left out. "You never would have guessed what?"

Kagome turned to him with a bright smile, and his heart leapt into his throat—sometimes he forgot just how beautiful she was. When she smiled like that, he remembered his first impression of her in his office all those months ago. Not noticing his reaction, Kagome laughed and filled him in. "Miroku's a slob!"

Inuyasha snorted and went back to his food. Around his chopsticks, he told her, "I know. That idiot and me were roomies in college. He's almost worse than I am."

"Ha! No one is worse than you!" Kagome countered with a giggle, which made him sulk into his meal. Remembering that Sango was on the phone, she turned her attention back to the receiver in her hand. "What else is going on?"

"I talked to Tsuyu again a little after you left, and she wanted to know if she could tag along the next time you go to work. Whenever that is."

"Oh?" Kagome turned a questioning look onto her boss; she pulled the phone away from her ear and covered the speaker. "Inuyasha?"

"Huh?" he answered intelligently.

"Can I go back to work tomorrow? Please?" she begged, complete with a pout.

He narrowed his dark eyes back at her. "I don't know…"

"Oh, come on! Please?"

"Fine. Whatever."

"Thanks!" She returned the phone to its rightful position. "Sango? I have permission to go back to work tomorrow. Can Tsuyu make it?"

"Probably. I'll ask her before I leave tonight. Can you pick her up? She doesn't have a car," Sango asked as she leaned back in her chair across town in the shelter.

"Of course!"

"Great. It'll be good for the both of you. Tsuyu can meet some new people, and you'll have someone with you to hang out with when Inuyasha gets boring."

Kagome laughed openly. "Him? Nah, he'll never get boring."

"Him? Him who?" Inuyasha looked up from his meal to watch the girl across the room from him his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

Kagome smirked back at him. "Don't worry about it. And quit eavesdropping!"

"I'm not!" He snorted. "Your conversation is so boring I could fall asleep; why would I listen to it?"

Kagome shrugged and turned back to phone with an evil glint to her eyes. "Sango? Remember that guy we talked to today in the sports section? He was so hot, wasn't he?"

"_What_?" Inuyasha shot up from his seat at the counter, outraged.

"See? I knew you were listening! Jerk..." She chuckled. "Anyway, I'll let you go, Sango. It's hard to have two conversations going at once. Tell Kohaku I hope he does well at his soccer game tomorrow and say hi to Miroku for me, okay?"

"Sure, Kagome, no problem. Bye!"

"See you soon!" Kagome hung up and trotted back to the kitchen counter to finish eating… only to find her plate was clean. She glared at the only person in the room. Then again, even if there had been a dozen other people in the kitchen, Inuyasha would still be the most likely suspect.

For his part, he looked mighty innocent. "What? Is there something wrong?"

"Other than the fact that I'm starving, and my plate is mysteriously empty? Nope." With a huff, she collected the dishes and deposited them into the sink for later. Seating herself back down next to Inuyasha, she peered at him. "How was work?"

"Fine, I guess," Inuyasha answered nonchalantly, forcing himself to not think about how much this conversation sounded like an old married couple's in a classic movie.

"How's the Yoshi case coming along?"

He shrugged, "Ayame took it over."

"What? That was my case. _Our_ case!" Kagome slapped a palm down on the counter in her outrage.

Inuyasha eyed her warily. "Don't sweat it. Ayame is good at her job. Plus, you could do with one less case."

With a forced sigh, Kagome looked away. "I guess," she muttered insincerely, still bitter. She had been thinking about the Yoshi case, had had ideas on where to take it.

"Sesshoumaru should be back on Thursday."

"Really? I miss Rin. I can't believe they brought Miko with them!"

Inuyasha smirked at her. "You really love my dog, don't you?"

"She is a sweetheart; unlike her own," Kagome reminded him with a wink. Suddenly, she broke into a large yawn and scrambled to cover it up with her hand. "I guess I'm tired… I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"I'm not giving you a ride?" For the life of him, Inuyasha couldn't stop himself from sounding very disappointed at the idea.

"No; I need to go pick up a friend. I'm taking her to work with me, is that okay?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied slowly. He'd been planning on spending Tuesday with her, helping her out and stuff. Inuyasha tilted his chair backward, balancing on the two back legs. "I don't see anything—"

_There was a huge crash as his chair fell backwards, spilling him on the ground._**_  
_**  
Laughing harder than she had for weeks, Kagome collapsed against the doorjamb, holding her sides. Inuyasha looked up from the floor, rubbing his head and scowling. "Wow!" she choked out, shaking her head while her eyes were scrunched up in glee. "Just… _wow_."

"If you'd stop laughing…" He scowled deeper.

Kagome grinned and walked over, holding a hand out. He took it and used her as leverage to pull himself up. "You're insane, you know that?" she asked with a laugh, smiling up at him. Once he was on his feet, Inuyasha was a lot taller than she was.

Ready to tell her to back off, Inuyasha stumbled to a stop when she stood up on her tip-toes and pecked him on the cheek—her lips left a tingling sensation behind.

"Good night, Inuyasha." Kagome smiled once more at him before prancing out of the room, her skipping only slightly weighed down by her sleep deprivation.

"Night, Kagome," he muttered— too late seeing as she had already left and turned down the hall to her room.

* * *

_"Inuyasha!" Kagome called as she ran towards the young man in the distance.___

_He turned around and gave her a cocky smirk. "Kagome! Hurry up, or we'll be late, idiot! Sesshoumaru will skin my ass if we show up late again."_

_Kagome stopped to catch her breath. With her palms on her knees, panting, she looked up and grinned at him. Brushing some black strands of hair out of her eyes, she raced off again. Inuyasha's smirk widened before he turned away, walking further ahead, not looking back to her. _

_"Hey! Inuyasha! Can you slow down? Don't… don't leave without me! I want to go with you!" Kagome's breath grew ragged as she forced herself to run faster to catch up with her friend.___

_Inuyasha looked over his shoulder but continued to walk at his normal fast pace, his longer legs carrying him farther ahead. "Yeah, Kagome, I'd like to go with you, too" he admitted softly, his gruff voice not as rough as he normally made it._

_"Really?" She reached out a hand, still straining to catch up to him. "If you want to, then why do you keep going faster? Please slow down; don't leave me here!"_

_Inuyasha finally stopped walking and turned to face her. He smirked and opened his arms to her. "Then hurry up! I'm here!"_

_She smiled appreciatively and began to move even faster. But then he started to disappear, to move farther away even as she moved toward him. "Inuyasha!"_

_"Kagome!" His voice sounded worried, but far away. She couldn't even see him now._

_"No." She slowed from a run to a walk. "No," she repeated, her voice disbelieving. "He can't just __leave__ me!"___

_She glanced around herself, realizing for the first moment that she wasn't all that sure of where she was. It was a long hallway, with several doors on either side, stretching to infinity. As she stared harder, she realized that all the doors were the exact same. Wooden with only a single tiny glass window at the top. The small round lights overhead flickered. The light in the narrow passage was dim. Shivering, with a foreboding feeling of where she was at, she paused to hug herself. It was cold and so very dark._

_And Inuyasha had left her here. He had just walked away, leaving her all alone is this scary place._

_"Kagome!" a cheerful voice yelled._

_She spun on her heel, frantically looking around. "Souta? Was that you? Oh, my God, Souta!" Trying to look everywhere at once, her eyes started to feel strained. "Souta! Where are you?"_

_"I'm right here," the boy whispered, and his sister whipped around to find him just a few feet in front of where she was last looking._

_"Souta!" she shouted, starting to run again. Kagome was afraid that if she blinked, her little brother would disappear, just like Inuyasha had done. But, to her relief, he stayed in one spot. As she came to a skidding stop, just short of the black-haired brat, her hand reached toward him. She wanted to touch him, make sure he was real. She wanted to hug him, to reassure herself that he was there. When her shaking fingers were mere inches away from his shoulder, two people appeared behind him._

_They were there to take him away from her again._

_The shadowed men had no faces. Their dark arms, as dark as any black hole, looped with Souta's outstretched ones. Yanking the terrified boy backwards, dragging him away from his sister, his salvation, they ignored his shrieks. "Kagome! Don't leave me! Get me out of here! Please, Kagome." He sobbed as the figures threw him behind one of those creepy doors. "Kagome..." As soon as he was shut away, the men disappeared, leaving Kagome alone once again in the hallway surrounded by doors._

_"Souta..." She shuddered and fell to her knees, suddenly feeling very weak. __"_**_Souta! _****No_!_**_"_

"Kagome! Kagome, wake up!"

"Souta!" She sprang up in her bed, covered in sweat and panting heavily. When she looked up at Inuyasha with wide, terrified blue eyes, his heart beat painfully in his chest. "Inuyasha, please, we have to save them! They had him! They took him away from me, and you just _left_! You left me to deal with it on my own! Why—?"

"Shh, Kagome," he hushed reassuringly and reached forward to hug her. "I won't leave you, all right? Calm down; I'm right here." He rocked her back and forth, trying to soothe her.

Kagome's hands entwined in the back of his T-shirt as she sobbed into his shoulder. "Inuyasha… Don't leave me alone. I don't like being alone."

"Go back to sleep. It'll be okay; I'll stay right here. I'll sleep in the chair in the corner; you won't have to be alone."

Leaning back into the pillows, Kagome sighed gratefully. "Thanks, Inuyasha" Her voice was heavy with sleep.

"It's okay," he repeated as he tucked the blankets around her body. "I'll be right over here," Inuyasha reminded her as he collapsed into the large armchair that he'd spent several nights in before. A quilt hanging off the back of it served as a way to fight off the chill December air.

"Goodnight, Inuyasha," she whispered as she curled into her side, snuggling into her pillows, hoping to get some rest.

"Goodnight, Kagome."

Inuyasha refrained from telling her how terrified he'd been when he'd woken up to her screaming.

**Next Chapter: A New Home**


	5. A New Home

Edited: 8/9/2011

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Five: A New Home

* * *

"No… Monkeys… Get them off! Get them… Off…"

In the brief moment of silence between Inuyasha's delirious mumbling, Kagome giggled.

"Ow! Stop biting me… Evil monkeys… Go away!"

Despite her attempts to muffle it, she laughed even louder, letting a snort slip through between chuckles.

"Don't laugh… So very evil…"

Kagome snickered as she poked the sleeping man again. He simply growled at her in his sleep before rolling over and curling deeper into the armchair.

"Inuyasha, wake up," she demanded gently, prodding him in the shoulder again.

"Evil, evil monkeys! Don't poke me!"

"Inuyasha Tsume Youkai, get your lazy ass out of bed," Kagome snapped, exasperated. After five minutes of this, it was beginning to no longer be that funny. "And don't you dare call me an evil monkey again," she tacked on for good measure.

The man's answer was to burrow deeper into his makeshift bed. With a sigh, Kagome started to jab at him repeated, wishing she had long fingernails like Kagura so that she could deal out more damage with each poke.

"Stop that," a muffled voice growled. "And how'd you know what my middle name was?" As Kagome watched, he peeked around at her with one eye open—half-lidded and heavy with sleep.

"Sesshoumaru and I have very interesting talks when you're not around," she explained with one eyebrow quirked.

"I don't think I want to know any more," he muttered.

"That's probably a good idea." Kagome nodded her head firmly before reaching forward and snatching at a corner of the comforter covering her host's body. In one quick movement, she ripped it off of him before throwing it over a shoulder and marching from the room.

"What'd you do that for?" he yelled after her, shivering.

Her distant voice floated back to him, soft but distinct. "To make sure you actually get up! I'll have tea and some real breakfast made by the time you get out here."

"Ramen _is _a 'real breakfast!' It's a real every meal!"

Grumbling, he got out of the armchair and stretched, goosebumps marching across his skin from the chilly air. Thankfully, he bedroom was right next door, so he managed to throw on warmer clothes within a few minutes.

When he reached the kitchen, he collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs and rubbed warily at his eyes. Kagome bustled around him, bringing over a steaming pot and piled food onto his plate. "What are you still doing here?" he asked her, picking up a fork and jabbing it into a pile of something he couldn't identify. It was a good thing Kagome was actually a good cook, or else he wouldn't have had the courage to take a bite.

"What do you mean? I told you I was going to make breakfast for you," she pointed out, giving him a confused look.

"That's not what I meant," he gurgled around a mouthful. "I thought you said you were picking up a friend to take into work around noon."

For several seconds, Kagome blinked blankly at him. Then she remembered what he meant. "Oh, crap, you're right. I could have slept in a few more hours before picking Tsuyu up! I guess my internal clock woke me up early."

"Actually, I'm grateful," Inuyasha muttered, taking another bite and avoiding meeting her eyes. "My alarm clock's in my room, so you were awake to get me up for work in time. Maybe I should keep it in your room instead, in case I have to sleep there in the future."

"I could take that statement two different ways," she warned, strongly questioning his perverseness.

He scowled back at her immediately. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm not Miroku."

Tilting her head, Kagome studied her host for a few minutes; he fidgeted under her attention. "No, you're definitely not Miroku… _he _has a better butt," she told him, biting her lip to keep from smiling at the confused yet outraged look on his face. With that, she turned back to the stove so she wouldn't have to meet his glare head on. (It was also a better position to hide her silent laughter.)

* * *

The room was dark with only a few lights hanging from the ceiling on long, dangling cords. The dim bulbs flickered and hummed as they swung back and forth from the high ceiling, throwing shadows along the even darker walls. The way the shadows shifted stirred images of sinister things in the imagination. A few tiny square windows dotted the top of the tall walls, and the only exits were guarded heavily by scowling men. The beginning of dawn was just starting to peek through the glass.

Long wooden tables ran the length of the room; clinks and clatters rang out dully as utensils knocked together while wooden bowls clomped down on the hard surface. Rows of children, from very young to early teens, sat solemnly at the tables, dutifully eating their small meals. The rice balls were stale and hard; the tea was bitter and watery. Even the water had an odd aftertaste. It left a slimy feeling in the back of their throats long after they swallowed.

Clutching his first meal for days to his chest, Souta searched the room with frantic brown eyes. He was weak from his rebellion, his refusal to bend to his kidnappers' will. Kagome would have been proud of him, but his stomach wouldn't stop complaining.

He was so tired, too. His dreams were haunted by the promise of rescuers, mainly his sister and Inuyasha, coming to save him. Just as they reached him, he always woke up. There had even been a few times he'd dreamt of them getting gunned down by the men holding him hostage.

The boy shoved down his negative thoughts resolutely, focusing on finding the person he was looking for.

"Souta!" a small voice whispered fiercely from one of the nearby tables. "Souta, over here!"

The black haired boy grinned a little, having found what he was looking for. "Shippou?"

He almost dared not to hope.

"Of course!" the same tiny voice chirped, sounding as upbeat as always.

Souta scoured the faces of the all the lonely children, trying to find his nephew—his best friend. The tiny redhead was perched on the edge of a bench, his green eyes identifiable even in the dim light.

Quickly, the older boy nudged his way into the tight space between Shippou and a gangly boy about his own age, excited to eat his first meal in three days.

Three days without food!

With one hand, he shoved the rice ball eagerly into his mouth while with the other, he reached down and grasped Shippou's fingers tightly with his own. "We'll get out of here; I promise," he whispered quietly, eyeing the nearby guards with anger and not a little fear. He was spirited, not stupid.

Shippou nodded slowly.

Keeping his cool, Souta studied the walls. The windows were way out of reach, and even if someone found a way to get up there, they'd never fit through. There were three doors leading out of the room, but each had two armed guards. They didn't even bother trying to conceal their handguns, even though their sheer size was enough to intimidate a bunch of terrified, malnourished children.

Shippou looked around at the rows of boys and girls, all alone and separated from their families. All kept their heads down, eyes filled with either tears or nothingness. Turning back to Souta, the redhead squeezed his uncle's fingers. "I know we will; we have to."

Before he even finished speaking, there was a sharp _crack _from another table.

A little girl screamed, falling to the ground in a heap. Her ragged brown hair covered her face as she sobbed.

One of the guards looked down at her and spat on the floor in disgust. "Get up, you filthy brats!" he roared turned to look at the tables full of kids. "Hurry up! It's time to go to work!"

The children, on shaky feet with shaky hands, stood from their tables and silently went to dump their trays into a garbage bin in the far corner. Souta followed Shippou while looking down at his shuffling feet. A pair of large boots appeared next to his, startling him. The boy stopped walking, and his brown eyes moved from the feet to their owner's face.

"Higurashi Souta?" the young, handsome man asked. His voice was almost sympathetic.

"Y-Yes, sir?" the boy asked, hating himself for stuttering. He found it hard to look away from the man's dark eyes. When he finally managed it, Souta looked at Shippou and nodded his head in the direction of the garbage bin, silently telling the younger boy to keep moving. The little boy grudgingly did so, afraid to leave his uncle with the boss.

Souta turned slowly back to the man.

"Come with me," the man ordered. He turned on his heel and stalked from the room, his long hair trailing behind him.

Reluctantly, Souta did as asked.

* * *

"Kagome?"

"Yeah?" she responded distractedly, stirring her tea and skimming an article from where she was sitting next to Inuyasha in the kitchen. They'd long since finished breakfast, but Inuyasha wasn't even close to ready to leave for work.

"What's the word 'apathy' mean?" Inuyasha asked, his nose in his own section of the newspaper.

"Uh, it's kind of like stoic."

"Kagome?"

"…Yeah?"

"What's the word 'stoic' mean?" Inuyasha laughed openly when she threw her spoon at him. "What? I just wanted to know! But if you aren't going to tell me…" He peeked over the top of the paper at her.

She sighed at his sulking. "Apathy means without emotion."

"Oh."

"Why?" She leaned towards him, her brow furrowed.

He hesitated, not wanting to answer her. "No reason," he mumbled.

Her blue eyes narrowed as she continued to meet his gaze, not blinking. "Inuyasha…" she prodded.

The man shifted uncomfortably in his seat, regretting bringing it up. Sometimes he forgot how curious and stubborn she could be. Then again, it was his fault for asking her a question in the first place. "Really, Kagome, no reason."

"Don't lie," she told him, pursing her lips. A second later, her face melted into a sugary sweet smile that ordinarily would send tingles down his spine. "Come on. Please," she coaxed, reaching her hand across the table to grab onto his wrist. "Why did you need to know what 'apathy' meant?"

Inuyasha lowered his eyes, no longer able to meet her gaze. Although a practiced liar, he found it hard to lie to Kagome. "It says here," he began slowly, indicating the newspaper, "That there's a new detective working on the missing children's case."

He cut himself off, silently begging the universe that she wouldn't ask any more questions even though his explanation was clearly lacking.

"So? What does apathy have to do with that?" Kagome sat back in her chair with the smile still in place, no idea of what was coming her way.

Frustrated, Inuyasha continued to hedge, again regretting even bringing the topic up in the first place. "Well…"

"What's wrong?" she asked him gently, again reaching out to pat his hand. At first, she was just being nosy, but the way he was acting was starting to make her worry. Her normally arrogant friend was acting so fidgety and uncomfortable, which made her actually miss his over-confidence.

Inuyasha watched her face collapse in concern, and it made him squirm even more realizing that he was the one that had caused that expression to cross her face.

"Inuyasha," she started, turning away from him to look at the newspaper. "What does not having emotion or not caring about something have to do with the new detective assigned to the missing children's case?"

Wishing she had as short of an attention span as he did, Inuyasha scowled. Handing her his section of the newspaper, he told her, "First story, top right."

Kagome scanned over the small article once, before rereading it slower a second time. Inuyasha watched as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting the information sink in.

_**TOKYO – **__Detective Yagi, the former lead on the disappearing children case, has been replaced by a new detective, reports local authorities._

_Detective Yagi was previously linked to Higurashi Kagome, the older sister and adoptive mother of the latest two kidnapping victims, due to another investigation earlier this year. _

_The business tycoon known simply as 'Naraku' was killed in an unfortunate accident three months ago. Not only was he Higurashi's significant other, but his death occurred at her new place of work. _

_Due to a conflict of interest, Detective Yagi was dismissed from the Disappearance Case. The new detective brought in is Detective Kori, a recent addition to the Japanese Police Force. Little information has been disclosed by the authorities. _

_Civilians who have worked with Kori in the past report that he is very apathetic. People around Tokyo and this newspaper wish Higurashi and the other family members of the missing children good luck with this cold man. _

Keeping his eyes down, Inuyasha heard Kagome sigh followed by a rustle as she set the paper down on top of the table.

"It says he is new to the force," Kagome pointed out; it was obvious that she was struggling to maintain a steady voice. "So if he's new, and they still assigned him to such an important case, he has to be good."

"Kagome?" Inuyasha cleared his throat and avoided direct eye contact.

"Yes?"

"It's continued on the next page, bottom left."

His voice was even more subdued than earlier, which Kagome liked even less.

_Cont. from front page._

A_ direct quote from Detective Kori provided us with insight on the situation. _

_"I don't understand why so much time and money has been spent on this investigation in the first place. Based on past experiences, I have reason to believe that all 112 children will not be returning to their families," said the detective at a press conference late last night._

_This newspaper is sorry to report that if his findings sway his decision, Higurashi may never see her little boys again._

"Wow," Kagome breathed, sure that her heart had just skipped a beat. "Why did they have to drag my name into it?"

Giving it some thought, Inuyasha scratched the back of his head and scowled some more. "Well, the government and everybody kept their mouths shut about Naraku's death and his criminal activities. Now that the press knows that you're linked to that story on top of all the missing children, you probably seem pretty damn fascinating."

"Ah," Kagome mumbled, unable to come up with anything else interesting to say.

A beat passed as he studied her, noticing how pale and small she looked at the moment—so different from how she was only a few short moments earlier. He'd really botched that morning by showing her the article. Then again, it wouldn't have been fair to keep it from her. "Are you okay?" he asked, wanting to reach out and take hold of her hand to give it a comforting squeeze. Second-guessing himself, he kept his hands in his lap instead.

"Why would they put someone who doesn't believe in the case in charge?" Kagome asked suddenly, sounding bewildered and maybe even a little bitter. "Won't that make it less likely that the kids will be found?"

"The police are fucking idiots," Inuyasha explained vehemently. He didn't really believe that, but he was beginning to feel helpless, which it turn made him feel frustrated. "I don't know why they do anything that they do."

"Inuyasha," Kagome scolded, mustering up a weak glare. "Don't call them that. There are plenty of respectable and honorable people in the government, and they're just trying to do their job."

Inuyasha snorted, secretly glad that the conversation had been steered away to a safer topic, even if it was still related to the one that had put them both in such a foul mood. "Like who? Miroku?"

Kagome sighed as she got to her feet to collect the dishes; she piled them in the sink to wash later. "Whatever. I'm going to head out now to pick Tsuyu up. Sango took Nazuna's early shift, so I'll have time to chat with her."

"Thanks for getting me up, but I'm still going to be late," Inuyasha complained.

Kagome rolled her eyes and gave a mock bow. "Sorry Your Majesty for not having your carriage horsed and ready for your departure forthwith."

He scowled; her sarcasm definitely didn't make him grin at all. "Yeah, about that… You better step it up, or I'll have to resort to Chinese Water Torture."

A sharp _crack_ echoed around the kitchen, promptly followed by Inuyasha holding his hand to his head with an incredulous expression.

"Why'd you hit me?" he demanded, furious.

"For being a jackass!" she responded immediately, refusing to back down.

"Well, _obviously_; I meant why'd you hit me with a damn barstool?"

With a snort and an eye roll, Kagome folded her arms over her chest and jutted one hip out. "Because refrigerator was too heavy for me to heave at your head!" she explained.

With an unamused scoff, Inuyasha stormed from the kitchen.

"Yeah, you better run!" she yelled at his retreating back. "Good idea there! You never know what'll happen if you stick around with me when I'm mad!"

"KEH!"

* * *

The dark-haired man leaned casually against his desk. 'The Boss' looked Souta up and down, studying the scrawny little brat like he held all the answers. Everything so far was going according to plan; Souta was the key to everything.

"You've been in lockdown since you got here, correct?" The man raised an eyebrow at the boy, his expression more neutral than either friendly or threatening.

Souta glared defiantly back and was able to repress some of the fearful shivers running down his spine. "Yes, _sir_." At least that time he didn't stutter, and he even managed to sound sarcastic like his sister or Inuyasha would have.

The older male nodded slowly. "So then you don't understand what we do here, do you?"

Stubbornly, Souta waited it out as long as he could, but had to finally admit to The Boss that he didn't. "No," he answered shortly, looking down at his feet.

"Follow me, then."

Scowling, the boy fell in behind the man, wondering about the point of going all the way to the man's office if they were just going to leave right away. Souta kept his face tilted downwards, watching his shoes scuff the floor as they walked. The halls in the large warehouse were completely deserted, but he could hear sounds of life coming from deeper in the bowels of the building.

As his ears strained to catch all the sounds, he noticed something other than the click-clack of his and The Boss's shoes on the tile. There was an almost inaudible drone coming from somewhere. The further towards the east end of the building they got, the louder the buzz became.

_What's that?_ Souta asked himself, prying his eyes up to look around at the dingy walls. He then noticed another noise, the sound of voices; too few to be all the children, but at least a couple dozen of them.

Slowing down enough to get a better look, but not enough to be left behind, Souta tried to see behind some of the doors. All thoughts of not being left behind disappeared as he finally got a good enough view of what lay beyond.

Ignoring the questioning glare of the man, Souta pressed his nose to the glass of one of the small windows set high on the door; he had to stand on this tip-toes to see inside.

There was a large room, a good twenty times the size of the small room he'd been kept captive in. Table after table was set up with children crammed along the edges. The way everyone was cramped together made him feel claustrophobic just seeing it. There had to be fifty kids packed into that room, working. In each pair of grubby hands was a sheet of cloth. Each child was sewing a design or knitting something.

The light was dim, the children sweating in the overheated room, and the men with guns kept barking orders at them. Working with so little light, their noses almost to the fabric, would strain their eyesight to the point of blindness.

One word pressed against Souta's mind:

_Sweatshop_.

A shiver ran down his spine as a cool voice hissed menacingly into his ear:

"Welcome to your new home, Higurashi."

* * *

Once at the shelter's parking lot, Kagome punched a button on her car keys that locked up one of the SUVs that she had stolen from Inuyasha massive collection of vehicles. She'd found her pick-up stranded in his driveway, surrounded by enough snow that it would have taken ages to dig it out. Time she didn't really have.

Her high heels clacked noisily on the tile, and the sound gave her a surging feeling of feminine power. Nothing told the world that a strong businesswoman was on her way like the clicking of sturdy heels on a solid surface.

Shoving her sunglasses to the crown of her head, Kagome gave Sango a weak smile. The brunette, noticing that her friend seemed awfully pale and tired looking, returned a grin just as pathetic. Kagome slowed down a little when she noticed the crumpled newspaper stuffed in the wastebasket next to the desk.

So Sango already knew about the new detective.

"Good morning, Sango!" Kagome came to stand in front of the welcoming desk, forcing herself to smile brighter.

"Hey, Kagome. Tsuyu is up and ready; she can head out any time." After a brief pause, Sango's smile also grew stronger as she remembered something. "Oh hey, guess what!"

Kagome took the bait, eager for some good news—which is what the brunette's expression promised. "What?"

Sango rolled her eyes good-naturedly, unable to keep the grin off her face. "My Monk in Shining Armor offered me the chance to take a winter vacation in Bermuda or Aruba."

Thoughts of the three feet of solid snow and shoveling work fell away from Kagome's mind. She grew starry-eyed, picturing the ocean and long stretches of sand, with plenty of people in bath suits enjoying the beach.

"Really?" she said breathily. "What did you say?"

Personally, Sango thought that Miroku's office was a little disgusting with just a hint of perverseness. "I reminded him about you, Inuyasha, and Kohaku, and then I hit him over the head with a chair. I thought he was being a little insensitive, you know? Wanting to spirit me away to a tropical paradise while the rest of you suffered in this miserable winter."

Kagome giggled. "Compared to Inuyasha, Miroku's the sweetest man ever." She paused, glancing beyond Sango and towards the area of the building where the women's bedrooms were. "I better go grab Tsuyu. I've got several projects to catch up on."

Sango blinked. "Is the workload that bad?"

With a shrug, Kagome examined her fingernails. "According to Inuyasha, Ayame and some of the guys took over most of my cases, but he probably forgot about the new ones I keep on file in my drawer."

"Oh, okay, I'll let you go then." Sango, still seated, grinned at Kagome and waved her off. "If I'm too busy taking the 'Is Your Boyfriend Worth It?' quiz in this magazine when you come back out, I'm wishing you a good day now."

"Hey, don't take that quiz to seriously! At least give Miroku another month no matter what score you end up with," Kagome suggested fairly. "I mean, this relationship was a long time coming, right?"

"It does seem like I can't live with him, can't live without him," Sango joked.

With an appreciative laugh, Kagome had just turned towards the corridor when the brunette stopped her again.

"Kagome? When are Sesshoumaru and Rin coming back to town?"

"Today's Tuesday, right?" Kagome asked, tilting her head in thought. When Sango nodded the affirmative to her question, she counted it out on her fingers. "They'll be back Thursday, I think."

"Don't you just hate it when you lose track of the days?"

Kagome shrugged. "I always did have a bad memory. Bye, Sango! I'll wave when I'm on my way out."

Officially taking her leave this time, Kagome continued down the hall to Tsuyu's room to pick up the younger girl. Standing in front of the unadorned door, she straightened her black dress pants and blouse, hoping she looked professional. Briefly, she considered that it might be weird that they had barely met and yet Kagome was dragging Tsuyu to work with her. It only took a second after she knocked for the other woman to answer the door.

"Hello, Kagome," Tsuyu greeted. She stepped out, looking young and fresh in a knee-length skirt and her black hair tied back with a ribbon.

"Hey, Tsuyu. Are you ready?" At the girl's nod, Kagome led the way back to the welcoming room and gave her promised wave to the distracted Sango. Reaching the car in the parking lot, she frowned.

"Sorry about the silver SUV; I borrowed it from my boss. For some reason, every single one of his cars is gray," Kagome explained, unlocking the doors. "Sometimes I wonder if he's colorblind."

The skin around Tsuyu's eyes crinkled with mirth as the girl laughed. "I like silver," she admitted as she climbed into the passenger side.

Kagome sighed. "Good. Because knowing Inuyasha, there's bound to be a lot of it around."

"Inuyasha?"

"Sango's and my friend. He also happens to be my boss."

"Oh." Tsuyu looked out the window at the snow piled next to the street as Kagome pulled out of the parking lot. "I love the winter," she murmured quietly, enjoying the gentle atmosphere of the car.

Kagome smiled. "Me, too, but I like spring better."

"Really? Why?"

Kagome kept her eyes on the road as she replied, "Because my birthday's in the spring. Just before summer."

The rest of the drive to work was filled with idle chatter, and the women realized that they really did have a lot in common with one another. It was nice for both of them to realize that no matter how many hardships they came across, there were still other people in the world who would help them out of trouble.

**Next Chapter: Mama**


	6. Mama

Edited: 8/9/2011

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Six: Mama

* * *

Someone knocked on the door.

Annoyed beyond reason, Kagome groaned and let her head fall on top of the desk with a dull _thud_. "Not another one," she mumbled into her hair. She had only been at work for two hours, but ever since walking through the doors of the Inutaisho Company, she'd had a steady stream of visitors. Since it had to be extremely boring, Kagome talked Tsuyu into going on a tour of the building instead of sticking around watching Kagome be pitied by her coworkers.

The attractive young woman had landed herself the equally handsome (if clumsy) Nobunaga as her tour guide. The only problem was that as soon as the young man had seen the pretty girl, he'd become ridiculously shy. He'd been unable to say a single thing to Tsuyu without blushing and stuttering.

Meanwhile, Kagome's visitors either presented themselves to drop of stacks of paperwork for her to review or to mumble awkward apologies for her crisis.

It was slow and deadly torture.

"Come in!" she shouted in what she hoped was her most professional voice.

"Oh, good, you're still alive." Never in her life had Kagome been happier to hear Inuyasha's gruff and annoyingly husky voice. He shut the door behind him and then plopped down in the chair stationed in front of Sesshoumaru's desk, currently occupied by Kagome.

"At least you knocked this time," Kagome pointed out, trying to be cheerful.

"Whatever. Hey, since Fluffy," meaning his half-brother, "Will be gone tomorrow, I need you to co-sign this contract with me."

"Okay. What's it for?" she asked as she dragged the heavy document forward and scrawled her name across the bottom with a pen. Sure, she should have probably waited to hear about what she was signing, but the day had been way too harsh to make her care anymore.

"We're supporting a new clothing line. It's headed by some Dankotsu guy," Inuyasha muttered distractedly, watching as Kagome continued to sign and initial several pages of the contract.

"Never heard of him," Kagome admitted with a shrug.

"How's it feel?" Inuyasha asked suddenly, startling her.

"How does what feel?" she asked, furrowing her brow. Kagome wondered if he meant missing the boys.

"How's it feel," he clarified, "Up here in Sesshoumaru's office? To sit at his desk—which for some reason seems better than mine—and in his chair?"

Kagome shrugged again. "I don't know. Fine, I guess. I'll miss it. I like using it while he was in Kyoto, but I'd rather have him and Rin back than have this office to myself."

"You're insane," he told her bluntly.

"I am not! It's not my fault that I like your brother and his adorable adopted daughter."

"Are you done yet?" he whined impatiently, waving his hand at the contract.

"Yeah," she said as she scribbled 'Kagome Higurashi' one more time before shoving the inch thick contract back at him. "Anything else?"

Her boss staggered to his feet and stretched. Kagome was pretty sure he did it purposely, since it stretched his button-up shirt taunt over his well-defined chest, drawing her attention. "No," he grumbled, snapping her out of her daze.

Worried that she was going insane, Kagome leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. "It'll be lunch time soon. I'm taking Tsuyu over to that rice stall across the street. Would you like to come with us?"

"Tsuyu?"

"The woman— the friend— I brought today."

"Right," he said, glancing beyond her and out the window. They had a great view of the city. "No, thanks. I'm going to drag Miroku out of his office, so we can hit up that ramen shop again."

"Do you even eat anything else?" Kagome questioned dryly.

"Yes! I eat chocolate… and ice cream, too!"

"Oh, how healthy," she drawled before shooing him out the door. "Okay, get out of here. I have things to do."

"See you later, wench."

Kagome threw a paper weight at him, but the dark-haired man slammed the door shut just before it could hit him. It hit the wood before falling to the floor.

"Lucky jerk." Kagome muttered, turning back to her mountain of paperwork.

* * *

_It was so perfect. The grass was blue, the sky was green, and the flowers were singing. Yes, __singing__._

_"Ahh," Kagome hummed pleasantly, enjoying sunbathing in the purple sunrays. "All I need now is something to eat."_

_A teacup, closely followed by a plate, appeared and began to sing, offering her orange spice tea and rice balls._

_"The pink rice balls always were my favorite," she sighed happily, sipping her drink."This is the life: no worries, no problems, no clothes… "Kagome breathed deeply before jumping to her feet, realizing what she'd just said. "_Wait_! No clothes?"_

"Kagome, wake up!" Sango commanded, shaking her best friend's shoulder. "Come on— Tsuyu and I are going take you out to lunch. You fell asleep; come on, wake up!"

"No… Can't… Need clothes."

"This is not the time to be thinking about shopping!" Sango snapped, exasperated.

"Not shopping," Kagome explained groggily. "Naked. Can't let people see… Can't let Inuyasha see."

Tsuyu and Sango glanced at each other and giggled. "That's some dream," Sango muttered before shaking Kagome's shoulder again, harder this time.

Finally, her blue eyes started to flutter open. With a yawn, Kagome stretched like a cat. "Huh?" she asked them drowsily, blinking at the other two women. "What's going on?"

"Come on, it's already afternoon. Let's go get some food," Sango ordered gently, helping Kagome stand up from behind the desk and straighten her work attire.

"Okay," she agreed obediently. She never was a morning person. Like all the Higurashis, Kagome was not a morning person. By the time she had enough coffee or hot tea after waking up, it was too late to be called morning any more. Then again, she was asleep at work in the afternoon. It was technically an entirely different situation.

Sango ushered her from the office and prodded the girl in the side when she was about to take the wrong turn; Tsuyu trailed behind, watching the friends with a smile on her face.

* * *

"My god," Miroku murmured, horrified, as he watched Inuyasha consume his third bowl of ramen in less than five minutes. "How is that humanly possible?"

"Once," Inuyasha told his best friend with a waggle of his eyebrows, a smile playing on his face. "I tried to find out how much ramen I could eat in one sitting, but the restaurant ran out before I was full."

His appetite shot, Miroku shoved his own meal away glumly. "I think that might be the most disgusting thing I have ever heard."

Seeing that his friend was done eating, Inuyasha snatched Miroku's plate and began shoveling the fried octopus into his mouth. "It'd be a shame to waste this," he explained around a mouthful of food.

"How's Kagome?" Miroku asked, changing the subject in an attempt to keep himself from hurling at the sight of Inuyasha's feeding frenzy.

"What do you mean? What kind of question is that? She's sitting at work working," Inuyasha said as though it was obvious.

Miroku glowered. "Her son and brother are missing, and she's stuck working with you instead of helping to find them. Not only that, but she's also surrounded by people saying 'I'm sorry' constantly when they don't fully understand the situation."

Inuyasha finally finished and shoved all the cups and plates into a pile before facing Miroku fully. "What's there not to understand? Some moronic creeps snatched Souta and the runt and are going to hold them for ransom. And if one hair is out of place on either of their heads, I'll shove them off a building."

"It may just be me," Miroku muttered, "But you seem to have a penchant for pushing people off buildings."

"Hey!" Inuyasha scowled defensively. "Naraku fell off that building all by himself. I didn't shove him!"

"Sure," Miroku replied in a sing-song voice.

"I didn't!"

"I know, I know," Miroku told him honestly. "I was just teasing. You may be rash and rude and egotistical… and arrogant and an ass—"

"_Hey_!"

"—But you're not a murderer," Miroku finished smoothly.

Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest in a huff. "Damn straight."

"So… How's Kagome?"

Inuyasha glared at his best friend.

* * *

"So, Kagome, how is your mother handling all this?" Sango asked between bites of her lunch. "She has a will of steel as far as I can tell, but even she has to be heartbroken right now over all this."

To her friend's surprise, Kagome shifted uncomfortably and didn't answer right away. After more than a minute of silence, Sango stopped her enthusiastic eating to look intently at Kagome, Tsuyu following suit. "Kagome," Sango repeated. "How is your mother doing?"

Stubbornly, Kagome lowered her blue eyes to her plate and picked at the food piled on it.

"You _have_ talked to your mother, right?" Sango leaned across the table to look her friend in the face, trying hard to get the other woman to meet her eye.

Pursing her lips, Kagome deliberately looked away.

"Kagome!" Sango shouted, scandalized. "How can you not talk to your own mom? It's her son and grandson missing, too! Oh, she must be having a heart attack!" Sango bit her cheek, imagining the pain Mrs. Higurashi must be going through.

Finally, Kagome threw her napkin down and slumped onto the tabletop. "No, I haven't talked to her yet," she admitted miserably, feeling ashamed of herself.

"How could you?" Sango demanded, clearly outraged on Kagome's mother's behalf. "The last thing she needs right now is her daughter to stop speaking to her. She needs you, Kagome. And you sure as hell need her! This is hard on the both of you, and you need the support."

Kagome shifted uneasily on the wire chair, chewing over her words before answering. The three women had grabbed their lunch before taking it to the nearby city park; now, they were eating at a table under the shade of a tree. "Fine, Sango," she said darkly, but even she could hear the quiver in her voice. "I'm a coward, okay? I couldn't handle talking to Mama."

Immediately, Sango sobered. "I'm sorry; it's just that you have me worried. This just doesn't seem like you."

With a sigh, the younger girl looked up and studied the leaves overhead. "I know. I'll talk to her."

"When?" Sango pressed while Tsuyu kept politely silent, struggling to not feel awkward.

The two friends shared a glance, and Sango finally recognized the spark of hurt and uncertainty in Kagome's eyes. It was so much like the first time they met, that the brunette's heart ached for her friend.

"I'll do it tonight," Kagome said firmly, reaching out to pat Sango on the back of the hand like the older woman was the one who needed comforting. The pain in her eyes was gone— or at least buried again, Sango noticed.

"It'll be okay. Want me to be there?" Sango asked supportively, pulling her grip from Kagome's so that she could lay her hand on her best friend's shoulder.

In response, Kagome laughed dryly. "I don't think you want to go on a road trip."

"Huh?" Sango looked utterly confused.

"It'll be better if I talk to Mama in person. This isn't something you do over the phone," she clarified.

Thinking over her schedule, Sango looked off in the distance at a golden retriever playing fetch with its owner. "You're right, I can't go to Kyoto with you tonight, Kagome. Kohaku needs help with a project at school. He's still new to public school, remember? Plus, with Souta gone, his heart's just not in it."

"Okay, that's okay. I'll be fine." Kagome turned her attention to Tsuyu and smiled at the younger girl gently. "Sorry you had to sit through all that."

Being the sweet girl that she was, Tsuyu grinned back. "It's okay," she promised them. "I'll help any way that I can. Oh, and Sango, would you mind dropping me off at the shelter when we're done here?"

Sango looked at her oddly. "You want to go back after only spending half a day at Kagome's work?"

Quickly, Kagome insisted, "I don't mind. It's probably really boring there."

Tsuyu blushed and looked down at her feet. "No, I really like it there. It's just that I have to get ready."

"Ready?" the other two echoed simultaneously.

Her cheeks burning bright pink, Tsuyu spread her hands on the table top, studying her fingernails as nonchalantly as she could. "Yeah, for a date."

"A date?" Kagome and Sango chorused again.

Tsuyu's blush darkened. "Nobunaga asked me out."

Sango stifled a laugh while Kagome struggled not to coo out loud.

"He's a great person," Kagome reassured the girl.

"I know," Tsuyu surprised them by saying. "I can tell."

The rest of the lunch passed quickly as the girls gossiped, discussing men in general and then helped Tsuyu think about the date ahead. Kagome hoped that this meant she could have a good relationship after the divorce with her previous, abusive husband was finalized.

* * *

"Hey, Inuyasha!" Kagome greeted cheerfully as they both got on the same elevator in the lobby at work. "How's Miroku?"

"The pervert's fine," he grunted, watching the numbers ascend as the elevator climbed higher in the building.

With a scowl, Kagome punched his arm playfully, her mood a little lighter after her outing with Sango and Tsuyu. "He's not much of a pervert anymore, so don't call him that! He only gropes Sango now."

"And that's better?" he responded in disbelief.

"Some," Kagome said.

"Keh."

"Oh, Inuyasha. Can I borrow your SUV again tonight?"

"Why?" He narrowed his eyes at her, almost as if he expected her to be plotting something.

Kagome met his gaze levelly. "I'm going to Kyoto."

"…Because you actually miss Sesshoumaru and Rin _that _much?" Inuyasha asked, furrowing his brow. "Wow, woman, they'll be back the day after tomorrow."

"I'm not going there for them," she snapped at him with a glower.

"Okay, fine, you can have the car. Just bring it back in one piece," he relented finally. "Why are you going to Kyoto?" Inuyasha asked as they reached Sesshoumaru's office on the top floor, where Kagome was currently holing up. They both stepped off together.

"To visit my mother," Kagome explained with a sigh. "I just wish Sango could have come with me," she added as an afterthought. It would have been nice to have the support.

Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow in her direction. "Do you want company that bad?"

"It's going to be hard to face Mama," she mumbled in defeat.

"I'll go," he announced taking Sesshoumaru's chair behind the desk. All it left was the less comfortable one for guests for Kagome to take.

"I never invited you," Kagome pointed out.

"You said you wanted company. I'm company."

In truth, Kagome didn't really mind. It would be nice to not have to face her mother alone. She didn't, however, appreciate him inviting himself along. "No."

"That's too bad. It's my car, and I'm going."

"It may be your car, but it's my house we're going to," she retorted smugly.

"Actually, it's a shrine, not a house. And it belongs to your mother."

Unable to come up with an argument to that, Kagome glanced away from him. "Whatever," she muttered.

Inuyasha took that to mean that he'd won.

* * *

That evening, Kagome stood at the base of the stairs of the Sunset Shrine.

"Deep breaths," she told herself sternly while Inuyasha watched on, bemused. "In with the pink and out with the blue."

"Why do you do that?"

"What? The breathing thing? So I can stay alive," she countered sarcastically. "If you want me to stop, I'll do it gladly."

"No." He scowled. "The 'in with the pink, out with the blue' thing."

"Oh… I don't know. I think my dad used to say that or something. It makes me laugh, which calms me down," Kagome explained, starting up the steps.

"Right. Is it possible to move any slower?"

"Shut up."

"Keh."

"Kagome!" A feminine voice shouted happily before either of them had made it to the top of the steps.

_How does she do that?_ Kagome silently asked, in awe of her mother's intuition. Mrs. Higurashi seemed to always know when she was home.

"Hi, Mama!" Kagome ran up the rest of the way and into her mother's open arms. "I'm so, so sorry for not calling."

"It's okay, dear." Her mother smoothed down the back of Kagome's hair lovingly, holding on tight. "I understand."

"Where's Grandfather?" Kagome asked. She'd always wondered how it was possible for her mother to remain so cheerful, so sweet, even during the rough times. She was a remarkable woman.

"He's at the store, buying some healing herbs. It's amazing how people actually come here for his goofball treatments," Mama said thoughtfully.

Kagome giggled. She also found it amazing how her mother was able to make her heart feel light and happy again despite the heavy situation they were in with Souta and Shippou missing.

"Come inside," Mrs. Higurashi insisted, fretting over them as though they were teenagers instead of fully grown adults. "It was a long drive—"

"Not really," Inuyasha interrupted, earning him a slap on the arm from Kagome.

"—and I'll get you some tea," Mrs. Higurashi finished, as though he hadn't just been extremely rude.

As soon as the older woman left the living room, Kagome sighed happily and fell back into the couch. "I don't remember why I was so afraid of facing Mama. I feel so much better now."

Inuyasha reclined next to her. "I could have told you that, woman."

Kagome looked at him disbelieving, wondering how he managed to make the word 'woman' sound like an insult. That arrogant, insensitive piece of…

Grinning, Inuyasha chucked her under the chin with a knuckle. "Hey, cheer up."

Quickly, Kagome swatted his hand away from her, but she couldn't help smiling.

* * *

Now Souta knew what the buzzing he had heard was. Several giant machines were placed in the back room of the factory where he was now living with the other sweatshop laborers. The mechanical monsters droned endlessly and made the children's heads spin, leaving their ears ringing long after they left the room.

"Souta?"

"Yeah, Shippou?" Souta had snatched a chair at the same table as his nephew. At least they wouldn't be alone through this.

"I heard you…" Shippou struggled to form words, his little hands busy reaching into a machine to reset something that had gotten loose. "…Muttering 'sweatshop' in your sleep."

"I don't talk in my sleep," the older boy countered, even though he knew that he did.

"What's a sweatshop?" the redheaded boy pressed.

Souta sighed, trying to focus on the machine in front of him. As far as he could figure out, all of the machines were connected in an assembly line that manufactured clothes. The group of children that he'd been assigned to was in charge of keeping the moving parts of the machine clean and working properly. Unfortunately, the parts were so intricate and dangerous that he'd seen more than one kid get cut. "We're _in_ a sweatshop," he said finally.

"Really?"

Souta nodded sullenly. He'd heard of them in school. "We're forced to work here without pay. We're cheap labor," he spat.

"We're in deep this time, huh?"

With a sigh, Souta stopped working long enough to look down at Shippou. "Yeah, we are. We may be in even more trouble than we were with Naraku," he admitted. After a pause, he set his mouth in a stern, confident line. "Kagome will save us."

"Keep moving!" a nearby guard snapped, startling both of them. The man punched Souta between the shoulders, watching with grim satisfaction as the boy fell to his knees. "No slacking, you filthy swine. Keep moving or no food." After a long minute, Souta struggled to his feet and started working again. Finally, the man moved on.

Shippou shivered, terrified. "Of course Kagome will save us. I just hope it's soon."

"I know. We just have to play along, and we'll make it through this," Souta reassured the younger boy.

"Okay," Shippou mumbled, choosing to believe him.

* * *

In a nearby room in the factory, there were seven men sitting around a table; one of them was The Boss, the man who had spoken with Souta earlier.

"Are you sure about this?" one of the men asked the other six in a gruff voice.

"Of course," the youngest man, the handsome boss, replied confidently.

"And if it backfires?" a third man, this one with balding black hair, spat.

"It won't," The Boss promised—although the way he said it, those two words sounded like a threat.

"But if it _does_," a black-eyed, gray-haired man, insisted roughly, "It'll fall on you."

He narrowed his eyes, unshaken. "Understood," he told them all coldly.

"It'll work," a pale complexioned man, with a full head of black hair, assured the others as though his word was law.

The last two of the seven kept their mouths shut.

The plan was set in motion, it could work, and they were ready.

* * *

The phone rang shrilly in the kitchen.

"I wonder who that could be," Mrs. Higurashi commented distractedly, placing a delicate hand to her cheek in thought. Inuyasha grunted and reclined further into the back of the couch while Kagome rushed to answer the phone.

"Hello, Higurashi residence— Kagome speaking," she gasped into the phone, clutching it to her ear. She'd barely managed to reach it in time before it went to the machine. Honestly, she wished for once she could just answer the phone with a plain, 'Hello,' because it was _her _phone.

"Kagome! It's good to hear from you," a feminine drawl responded.

Kagome scrunched her eyebrows together in concentration before they lifted in realization. "Kagura?"

"Of course," the red-eyed woman said as if it were obvious.

"Hey! I haven't heard from you in two months."

"I know," Kagura replied, reaching down to hold Kanna's hand so that they wouldn't get separated in the crowd they were pushing their way through at the moment. "Sorry about that."

"Hey, I'm just glad to hear from you." Kagome happily leaned against the kitchen wall. "You are okay, right?"

"Yes, and I have a surprise for you," Kagura remarked casually.

"Really? I love surprises!"

Kagura chuckled. "I know."

"What is it?"

"You'll have to wait. You can see it Thursday morning."

"When? I have to work," Kagome informed Naraku's ex-accomplice.

"Take a day off, hun," Kagura suggested. "You could use one."

With a roll of her eyes, Kagome laughed. "I took yesterday off. I can't take Thursday off, too. Inuyasha won't let me."

"That man?" Kagura asked, even though she knew who Inuyasha was. "Well, if he won't give you the day off, I'll hunt him down, and he'll never see the light of day ever again."

"You may or may not be joking. I can never tell," Kagome countered dryly. "Hang on, let me check with him." Kagome covered the mouthpiece and yelled back into the living room. "Hey, Inuyasha! Can I take Thursday off?"

"Why?"

"Because," she answered intelligently.

"Of course you can, honey," Mrs. Higurashi cut in before her real boss could reply. "In fact, take tomorrow _and_ Thursday off. You can sleep here tonight and head back to Tokyo in the late morning."

"Hey! I never said that, and I need to go to work in the morning!" Inuyasha protested.

Both women ignored him. "Thanks, Mama," Kagome said. Turning back to the phone she told Kagura, "It's all set. I'll be home—wait, I'll be at Inuyasha's home by noon tomorrow. The company can take care of itself for once."

"Good." There was a pause as Kagura took in her surroundings. "Hey, I need to get off. Electronics aren't allowed to be on here."

"On where?" Kagome asked.

"Don't worry about it. Talk to you soon. Bye!" Kagura snapped her cell phone shut and settled into her seat, pulling the seatbelt on.

And all Kagome heard was a dial tone.

**Next Chapter: A Gift**


	7. A Gift

A/N: My aunt is visiting tomorrow which is why I'm posting this tonight. I wanted some time to spend with her, so now I only have to worry about writing the chapter for my other story.  
  
I only have a faint idea for what to do with the plot, but I need ideas to fill up the time when my few and far between thoughts are being written.  
  
Please! I ask you guys for ideas—what do you want to see happen? I can't promise I'll find a spot, but I will try.  
  
Thanks for all the reviews! I love them! Thanks to those who wished me a happy birthday. Why do I hate them? Because bad karma seems to come around to me on that day...every year...  
  
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Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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"Good," Kagura sneaked a peak around. "Hey, I need to get off. Electronics aren't aloud to be on here."  
  
"On where?" Kagome asked.  
  
"Don't worry about it. Talk to you soon, bye," Kagura snapped her cell phone shut and settled into her seat, pulling the seatbelt on.  
  
And all Kagome heard was a dial tone.  
  
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Chapter Seven: A Gift  
  
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"I agree with Inuyasha, honey."  
  
"What is everyone trying to do? Gang up on me?" Kagome raged as the tips of her ears reddened with well-kept anger.  
  
"Kagome..." Inuyasha said slowly, a warning tone underlying his passive voice.  
  
"No," she snapped at him. "You can't do this! I need this!"  
  
"Dear, I think your friend is right. You need a break." Kagome's mother continued.  
  
Kagome could not, no mater how pissed she was, snap at her mother. "..."  
  
Inuyasha crossed his arms gruffly over his chest, easily taking her silence as surrender. "Come on, we have to get going. I have to get to work today, even if you don't."  
  
Kagome's blue eyes narrowed, "Yes, Inuyasha."  
  
He smirked, feeling as if he'd won the argument. "Move it, wench. 'Bye Mrs. Higurashi!" He yelled over his shoulder as he pushed the woman's daughter out the front door, towards his car.  
  
"Bye, Dears!" Mrs. H chirped happily, an easygoing smile firmly in place. "Have a good time in Tokyo, I'll see you soon! Don't forget to call!"  
  
"Bye, Mama!" Kagome squirmed under Inu's firm grip on her shoulders to turn and wave to her mother. "I'll miss you!"  
  
"I'll miss you too!" Mrs. Higurashi grinned as Inuyasha, not seeming to know he was doing a moral thing, helped her daughter into the passenger seat. After opening her door, he'd secured her seatbelt. 'He can be so sweet sometimes,' the elder woman sighed.  
  
"WENCH!" Inu ranted, "Stop fumbling with the seatbelt. You are not riding in a car without your seatbelt so you go through my window. If you shatter it in an accident you're paying!"  
  
'If only he could be sweet in a gentle sort of way...' Mrs. Higurashi corrected.  
  
"What if I'm dead? How will I pay then? You seem like the kind of guy to bother my mother while she's grieving just to get the money! You ass!" Kagome ranted back, although her hands had stopped twisting the safety belt.  
  
"And if only my daughter would accept his affections more easily," Kagome's mother muttered under her breath before going back into the house. She needed to make some tea before Jiisan came back.  
  
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Inuyasha sighed heavily as soon as they reached the highway. Sure, Kagome was steamed about the seatbelt thing, but at least now she wasn't still thinking about the earlier argument.  
  
Or at least he thought...  
  
Kagome rounded on him as soon as the car picked up speed on its way home. Her ocean eyes had darkened and she was, to put it bluntly, livid to the extent of ripping his head off and throwing it under the wheels of the truck in front of them.  
  
"Inuyasha Youkai," she hissed.  
  
Said man shifted, but kept his eyes in front of him. Was it him, or was it starting to get really hot in here? Inu yanked lightly at his collar. "Yeah," he bit out gruffly, trying for the I-Don't-Know-What-You're-So- Pissed-About-But-Whatever-It-Was-I'm-Right approach.  
  
Not a good idea.  
  
"You self-centered, egotistical, conceited ass!"  
  
"You already called me an ass, remember?"  
  
"I don't care," her soft voice went lower. "How could you say that? Suggest it in front of my MOTHER? She's going to think her daughter is some kind of weak, pathetic little girl!"  
  
"You are weak!" He protested, thinking that wasn't all that bad to say.  
  
"Say that again and I'll rip out your heart and force feed it to you." Kagome's eyes narrowed even more, a mental image of her doing what she'd just said playing in her mind. A sly, and very evil, smirk flickered for a second.  
  
"Aren't we violent today...Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Inu smothered his smirk, not fancying having her try to strangle him again.  
  
"I couldn't," She huffed, "You kicked me out of my bed and made me sleep on the floor!"  
  
"Hey, you offered it!" he defended himself.  
  
"You know I can't stand the puppy dog eyes," she accused. "Bastard!"  
  
Inuyasha sighed. "Why are you so angry with me?"  
  
Kagome blinked. "You mean the me sleeping on the floor thing?"  
  
Inu blinked just as stupidly. "No, bitch, I meant the me not letting you work at Inutaisho Company anymore."  
  
"You make it sound like you fired me," Kag growled. "I don't see why you don't want me there."  
  
"You're going through some bad ass shit right now and-,"  
  
"'Bad ass shit'," Kagome repeated. "Wow, you have a way with words."  
  
"-I think it'll be best if you don't come to work," Inu plowed on. "You're gonna be all distracted and weepy. It'll cost me money!"  
  
"Uh huh." She gave him a deadpan look.  
  
"Shut it."  
  
"No. Anyway, I need to go to work-,"  
  
"It'll be like a paid vacation. You'll still get money, but you won't have to work," Inu butted in.  
  
"I don't care about money!" Kagome growled when he gave her one of the most awestruck looks in history at her comment. "I don't, well, not really. But I need work to keep my mind off things."  
  
"Shouldn't you keep your mind on things? That way you can help find the kids faster." Inuyasha pointed out, desperately trying to get her to take a break without having to just plain come out saying 'I'm worried about you'.  
  
Not promising in his opinion.  
  
Kagome took a deep breath and leaned back into the leather interior. "Do I have too?"  
  
"As your boss, I insist that you don't come in till the boys are found," Inu focused back on driving.  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Good," it felt good to win he decided.  
  
"But you didn't win this."  
  
'Damn!' Could she read his mind?  
  
"We'll talk this over again in a few days," Kagome pressed. She needed work as a distraction. Why couldn't that idiot understand?  
  
"Keh." At least it wasn't a yes or no.  
  
.  
  
---  
  
.  
  
"Gods...You'd think a girl could come and visit her best friend from her lonely childhood and have lunch with him. But no, the brainless wonder just has to be pacing like a fool and can't pay attention to the girl," Sango muttered, her lips pursed as she glowered up at Inuyasha as she sat slumped in her chair. "So what's bothering you?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Sango frowned, "Why are you upset?"  
  
"What?" Inuyasha starred at her in confusion.  
  
"Let me put this into words that you'll understand. What the hell crawled up your ass and died?" Sango said slowly.  
  
"Oh! Why didn't you just say that? I don't trust Kagura," Inuyasha grumbled back as though it explained his actions completely.  
  
'Men. Are. Complete. Idiots,' Sango thought dryly. "You're a moron, Inuyasha," she stated dryly.  
  
"Kouga," Inuyasha corrected, starting to pace again.  
  
"Huh?" It was Sango's turn to use the highly intelligent word.  
  
"I'm not the moron, Kouga is," he explained.  
  
"Okay, going back to why you're pissed: why don't you just go home and watch over her? You know, play hooky." Sango suggested.  
  
Inuyasha stopped walking back and forth to stare at her. He blinked stupidly before wagging a finger at her, "You know what? That might work."  
  
Sango starred at him owlishly. "I was joking. You are the head of a multimillion-,"  
  
"Billion," Inu slipped in with subtlety.  
  
"-Company and you can't just walk out on it!" Sango hissed.  
  
"But you suggested it!" Inu protest, growling at the brunette.  
  
'Back to being the moron thing,' Sango mentally pictured a mini version of herself running the man through with a sword. "How does Kagome-chan do it?"  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Live with you," Sango growled, pulling herself from her chair and starting toward the door. "I'll leave you with your thoughts. Maybe I can convince the teachers that Kohaku has an appointment with a doctor and can pull him out for lunch..."  
  
"You do that," Inu waved her off. "See ya Sango."  
  
"Uh huh, bye," Sango good-naturedly left the office. She could just use the money from Miroku that had 'dropped' from his wallet innocently into her purse to pay for the food...  
  
Inuyasha watched his old friend leave with a dazed look. "I can't leave Kagome to wait for something from that woman..." he decided aloud before locating his coat and stalking from the room.  
  
'Screw the company...Fluffy'll take care of it.'  
  
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---  
  
.  
  
"I wonder what Kagura will get me..." Kagome wondered aloud as she flipped idly through the channels. 'I hope its something good...and big...and expensive...'  
  
The black haired beauty sighed in bliss. She loved gifts.  
  
-Ring- -Ring- -Ring-  
  
Kagome shivered; the sound of the kitchen phone ringing wasn't really her favorite sound anymore. "I'll get it," she announced before realizing that there was no one else there to get it.  
  
"Being alone sucks..." she muttered, lifting the receiver to her ear. "Youkai residence, their underpaid, used maid speaking," Kagome chirped happily.  
  
"If you're underpaid, I'd hate to see what a regular salary would cost me," A cold calculating voice drawled dryly.  
  
"Hey, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Kagome blushed slightly from talking to her boss in a way that would make her seem ungrateful for her (cough) generous (cough) salary.  
  
"Good late morning, Kagome-san," Sesshoumaru addressed her politely, "I have a...request to ask of you."  
  
'You'd think the guy has a problem with saying the word 'favor'.' Kagome grinned, "Shoot."  
  
"Rin's private tutor and nanny has requested the day off," Sesshoumaru explained.  
  
"And you need me to watch her?"  
  
"That was the idea."  
  
"No problem Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome smiled, "I'd love it. It's too quiet here. Do I have to go pick her up? My truck is still in a snow drift and I think Inuyasha has a problem with lending me the keys to his car collection."  
  
"My brother has the maturity level of a five year old."  
  
"I've noticed," Kag remarked dryly, her blue eye glazing over as she thought of the way she'd watch him go insane over losing his rubber ducky. He refused to take a bath without it...  
  
"And no, the woman will drop Rin off. Thank you, Kagome-san," Sesshoumaru gave a silent sigh as Jaken walked into his office carrying some forms, "I've got to let you go."  
  
"Bye!" Kagome tucked the phone back to the wall and started towards the couch. 'Maybe I can get some TV bonding time in before Rin gets here...'  
  
Kagome curled up against one arm of the seat and switched the channel to a daytime soap. The only other thing on was news and she knew what the subject would be.  
  
"MIKO!" She bellowed when her bare feet started to get chilly. Said Akita bounded into the room with such a force she could've plowed an elephant over. Kagome clucked and patted the spot next to her and the massive dog leaped up and curled over Kagome's exposed feet.  
  
The snow-white canine yawned before settling into a late morning nap.  
  
"That's a good girl," Kag murmured, scratching behind a triangle of fur while absorbing herself into the show.  
  
Thirty minutes later, Kagome was sniffling into a tissue.  
  
"Ralf! You moron! How couldn't you see that it was your fiancé's evil twin that you were getting married to? Maria has GREEN eyes and that witch you call a wife had BROWN!"  
  
Gods, men were dipshits, she realized. Couldn't use their eyes when they needed to. Take Inuyasha for example: put a dish of food in front of him and the apocalypse could come about and he wouldn't even notice.  
  
A nostalgic twinge in her heart made Kagome nod stiffly. Not Shippou or Souta, they'd grow up to be the perfect gentlemen. Now all she had to do was get them back and then hide them from people like Inuyasha Youkai...  
  
-BUZZZZZ-  
  
"Too late, they're probably already scarred for life from that Hentai and the Jackass," she muttered, pulling her feet out from under the massive weight that was Miko. "I'm coming," she hollered as the doorbell sounded again.  
  
Clambering to the door, Kagome absently yanked a blanket from a nearby chair to wrap around her shoulders. No reason to get cold.  
  
"Hey, Rin! How are you sweetie, I haven't seen you since-," Kagome started as she pulled the door open...only to find that the little girl was nowhere in sight. "Oh...my..."  
  
"Hello, Kagome."  
  
"Kagura?!"  
  
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---  
  
.  
  
Inuyasha pulled into the driveway at the same time as a second car arrived. He recognized the overpaid nanny stepping out and then pulling his adorable niece from the car as well.  
  
"Come along Rin," the woman commanded before looking up to see her employer's brother. "Mr. Youkai? I was told I'd be meeting your brother's secretary here, but I guess this works too."  
  
"Right. So the brat's staying?" Inu strode over to the nanny so Rin would have a shorter way to travel to attach herself to her uncle's leg.  
  
"Mr. Youkai! Rin is such a dear, I can't see why you'd call her such..." The woman trailed off when it was obvious the black haired man wasn't listened. He waddled to the door while Rin sat on top of his foot, her arms and legs wrapped around to keep from falling off.  
  
Inuyasha gave a wave over his shoulder as he shoved a key into the door, "See you later! I'll call my brother to tell him Rin's here. Thanks!" and the door was slammed behind him.  
  
"My word," the woman grumbled before climbing back into her car and driving off in a huff regarding his rude behavior.  
  
Inuyasha toddled into the living room. The TV was on and he could easily figure out that it was that Ralf guy from some soap. Not that he watched or anything...  
  
"Hey Kagome? I found this out on the sidewalk and thought you'd want to keep it," Inu pointed down to the glomping Rin without looking up.  
  
"She clings to you like a leach," a very non-Kagome sounding voice drawled.  
  
Inuyasha looked startling upward and his lavender gaze met a very crimson one. He really didn't like this woman. "Call my niece a leach again and I will-,"  
  
"INUYASHA!" An outraged voice interrupted. The man turned to find a scowling Kagome looking at him with a look that promised nothing short of torture if he finished his thought. "Kagura is my guest and walls have ears."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Walls. Have. Ears," Kagome punctuated each word with a nod to his ankle.  
  
"Huh?" he repeated his earlier comment.  
  
"Kagome means that you have a little girl attached to your leg and if you let said little girl learn any bad words or ideas, Kagome will personally hang you by your balls and clip off various parts of you with manicure scissors," Kagura explained.  
  
"Not fair!" Inu scowled, "Why do you get to say stuff like that and I can't?"  
  
"Because," Kagome explained, settling down across from her ex-boss' ex- coworker. "Kagura says it in such a voice that Rin would never guess it was anything bad...hence she'd never try to learn it."  
  
"That makes no sense," he grumbled as he pried the child off of him and set her down on a chair.  
  
"Actually, it makes perfect sense," Kagura gave him a dry look. Now she remembered why she'd wanted to kill him...  
  
"Ladies, can we stop fighting?" Kagome asked while quirking an eyebrow in both of their directions.  
  
"That was just mean," Inu huffed before examining his nails.  
  
Kagome stared, 'It's amazing just how much he could fit the role.'  
  
Inuyasha, seemingly sensing her non-masculine thoughts toward him, keh'd and then slouched in his chair, his arms across his chest.  
  
'That's better,' Kagome mentally sighed.  
  
"As I was saying before Inu no Baka here interrupted," Kagura purred while Inu glowered at her in a very dangerous way, "Is that I'm staying at a hotel with Kanna. You can sell that flat in Paris now that we're done with it."  
  
"Aren't the authorities still searching for you?" Kagome leaned forward in worry for her helper.  
  
"It's been three months. Plus with this sudden," Kagura stopped as her mind flickered for the correct term for Kagome's sorry situation, "Commotion, they'll be too busy to try and locate me."  
  
Kagome sighed and then fell backwards into the chair. "That's good. How was Paris?"  
  
Kagura sighed, "I much rather would have stayed in Mexico. They have the most elegant fans there, but Paris was nice. Beautiful...but it was still too...bright. I need the dark," she finished.  
  
"The city of lights...Must have been hard for you Kagura. Don't you melt in the sunlight?" Inuyasha sneered, oblivious to Kagome's malice at her left elbow.  
  
"No...I melt in the rain." Kagura hissed, "You're thinking of vampires."  
  
Inuyasha's purple orbs narrowed, "Why don't you go crawl back into the shade under a rock?"  
  
Kagome's eyes went back and forth between the two like she was at a tennis match. "That's it!" she held up a hand and glared at the both, "No more! If you can't behave around each other, one of you will have to go."  
  
Inuyasha's conceited smirk lifted the corners of his lips, "Bye Kagura."  
  
"What makes you think you're the one that'll be kicked out?" she retorted dryly, her scarlet eyes glinting.  
  
"It's my house," he growled.  
  
"Too bad! You did say 'my house is your house' right Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. "So that means that Kagura is my guest and you have no right to throw her out on her ear."  
  
"I wouldn't throw her out on her ear...I'd throw her out on her ass."  
  
"Inuyasha Tsume Youkai!" Kagome's look darkened and Inu winced. "I never want to hear anything like that with Rin in the room ever again!"  
  
"Did you notice Kagome," Kagura pointed out under her breath, "Rin left awhile ago."  
  
"Oh." Kagome frowned at Inu's triumphant smirk. "Wipe that look off your face or I'll have to do it for you."  
  
"What is this? Insult Inuyasha Day?" He sulked, absently sliding a few feet away from Kagome.  
  
"No, that's everyday," the blue eyed woman explained to the amusement of her guest, "Today is Belittle Inuyasha Day. Also known as 'Ruin Inuyasha Day' and 'Destroy Inuyasha Day'."  
  
"Now you're just making stuff up," he sighed in boredom.  
  
"Wanna bet?"  
  
Before Inuyasha could say 'I want ramen' Kagome had lunged at and began to attack him.  
  
Kagura sat back and began to nurse her gin and tonic that had been settled on the coffee table. "Now this is entertainment," she sighed in bliss as a evil grin played at her lips.  
  
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A/N: I, er, told my brother to punch out one of his drill sergeants because the guys were being (and I quote) 'dicks' to him. Of course if he does...he might not graduate. Of course no one told me that until AFTER I told him to do it. Heh...heh...oops?  
  
I know it's short, and I'm sorry about that. I have this killer headache and it might have something to do with the large bump on my temple. Now if I could only figure out how that got there...  
  
Review please!  
  
Ja ne!  
  
Fay 


	8. Did That Just Happen?

A/N: You do all realize I basically write this thing straight off the top of my head without thinking about it first, right? I also don't take breaks when I write a chapter, I think it sounds too choppy, so as soon as I sit down to type, I stay there until I'm done.  
  
Ah the habits of the temperamental, stubborn authoress.  
  
::sigh::  
  
Ooo, maybe I'll actually get around to addressing the whole Kagome's upset thing. ::has been putting it off::  
  
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Disclaimer: Still don't own him.  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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--- Last Chapter ---  
  
"What is this? Insult Inuyasha Day?" He sulked, absently sliding a few feet away from Kagome.  
  
"No, that's everyday," the blue eyed woman explained to the amusement of her guest, "Today is Belittle Inuyasha Day. Also known as 'Ruin Inuyasha Day' and 'Destroy Inuyasha Day'."  
  
"Now you're just making stuff up," he sighed in boredom.  
  
"Wanna bet?"  
  
Before Inuyasha could say 'I want ramen' Kagome had lunged at and began to attack him.  
  
Kagura sat back and began to nurse her gin and tonic that had been settled on the coffee table. "Now this is entertainment," she sighed in bliss as a evil grin played at her lips.  
  
--- End of Last Chapter ---  
  
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Chapter Eight: Did That Just Happen?  
  
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Kagura looped her hand through Kagome's arm an hour later. The two women started out the front door with one battered, and unhappy, man following after.  
  
"You sure you don't mind me coming?" Kagura asked while looking at the happily grinning ocean orbed girl next to her.  
  
Kagome stopped her musings on how she could blackmail Inuyasha (over the fact she'd gotten a few good hits on him when she, herself, was barely touched) to turn a beaming smile on the older woman. "No, I don't mind. I'll feel better with some support."  
  
"Hey! What about me?" Inu shouted from his moping behind them. Wasn't he good support?  
  
Kagome looked over her shoulder back at him. "The last time I brought you to a police meeting, you distracted them by seeing how many pencils you could stick in the ceiling," she reminded him dryly.  
  
"...Keh."  
  
Kagura glanced back and forth between the two before shaking her head slowly. 'Still the same old thing,' she thought sadly, wondering how long it would take for them to finally get together.  
  
"Who's car are we taking?" Kagome broke her thoughts.  
  
"Well, considering that your car is rusting under the snow in my front yard, it'll have to be mine," Inuyasha scowled.  
  
Kagura rolled her eyes. "Your cars are too...silver. We'll take mine!" Whipping out the car keys with such elegance, Kagome was left blinking blankly at purse hung over the Kagura's shoulder. "There it is," she explained while clicking a button. Lights flashed to draw Kagome's attention to a red corvette.  
  
While Kagome stood drooling at the old fashioned car, Inuyasha looked down at the little girl attached to his arm. "Hey, Rin? Why are you being so quiet?"  
  
Rin blinked back up at him with big brown eyes. "Uncle Inu? Rin didn't have her chocolate today," she pouted.  
  
"Oh...well that explains it. We'll get you some at Sango's house, 'kay?" Inuyasha made sure the two women weren't looking before giving the little girl a tender grin. Only Rin deserved it, he figured.  
  
"Come on you two!" Kagome yelled, practically jumping up and down in her bubbling excitement. Whoever said that cars were a guy thing had never met Kagome Higurashi.  
  
Inuyasha smirked back at her; glad they had at least one thing in common. He gave Kagura's car a disgusted glance as he climbed in, however.  
  
It wasn't silver.  
  
"Uncle Inu! Uncle Inu! It's so pretty!" Rin giggled while looking around her at the interior of the car.  
  
"So...where are we going?" Kagura commanded as she drove down the long driveway to the street below Inuyasha's home.  
  
"You remember Sango's house?" Kagome asked knowing that Kagura had spied them there the months before. Kag no longer held it against the ex-employee of Naraku. They'd grown pretty close over the phone lately.  
  
"Sure." Kagura replied coolly, shifting the gear and letting out the clutch. "We won't be there for awhile," she explained glancing to the cramped back seat where Inuyasha sat, his head ducked, with his niece. "Music?"  
  
"Yeah, that be good," Kagome mumbled as she continued to search and look at the parts of the car.  
  
Kagura flipped on the stereo only to find that back in Paris the American teenager who'd valet-ed her car had messed with it, leaving his own CD in.  
  
"– _become so numb,  
  
I can't feel you there.  
  
Become so tired,  
  
So much more aware.  
  
I'm becoming this,  
  
All I want to do,  
  
Is be more like me, and be less like you!  
  
Can't you see that you're smo_-."  
  
Kagura began to frantically switch the music to something more...her. Kagome and Rin burst out in twin giggles and Inuyasha scowled at the change of music. Once 'Dearest' found it's way to the speakers from the radio, everyone calmed down.  
  
Kagome looked back from the front seat and grinned at the little girl and they shared a look of aunt/niece look that few can ever decipher. Turning back to Kagura, she apologized. "Sorry, but I just need to meet this new detective, so I know what I'm dealing with."  
  
"I'd like to see what dimwit the police put on this case," Kagura drawled but was ignored as Kagome started to talk to Rin.  
  
"Honey, once we get there, Uncle Miroku and Aunt Sango will meet us there. Kohaku will come with them."  
  
"Kay!" Rin chirped before going back to looking out the small window.  
  
"Kanna will be there too." Kagura added while keeping her eyes on the road.  
  
"What?" Kag looked back at Kagura, startled. She'd never met the woman's little sister.  
  
"I dropped Kanna off at Kohaku Taijai's school and enrolled her there before I came over. I talked to Kohaku and he'll bring her with him," she explained.  
  
"Oh," Kagome blinked back at the scarlet-eyed woman while processing the information. Once she was sure she understood, she smiled. "I can't wait to meet her!"  
  
"Yeah, Kanna was pretty excited too. She wanted to meet 'the poor woman we almost had killed'. She puts it so nicely, doesn't she?" Kagura smirked.  
  
Kagome frowned at the title before starting to laugh. "It works, doesn't it?"  
  
Inuyasha rolled his eye from the back seat. "Music." He demanded, "Real music."  
  
Kagura frowned back at him before smirking. Turning the valet teenager's CD back on, she changed the song...She didn't expect Inuyasha to sing along.  
  
"_I, I came here by day,  
  
But left here by darkness.  
  
I found, found you on the way.  
  
But now it is silver and silent.  
  
It is silver and cold.  
  
You in somber resplendence,  
  
I hold.  
  
Your sins into me!  
  
Oh my beautiful one.  
  
Your sins into me!  
  
Oh, oh!  
  
As a rapturous voice escapes, I will tremble a prayer.  
  
And I'll beg for forgiveness_-."  
  
"Okay, we get it. You can sing!" Kagura scowled as she punched the buttons on the radio to get rid of the music.  
  
Inuyasha scowled back at her. "I like that song," he sulked.  
  
Kagome stayed silent before adding. "Me too."  
  
"It's Silver and Cold." Inuyasha looked back out the window.  
  
"Oh. Thanks." Kagome laid back in her seat to listen to the song that Kagura had turned it to. She didn't feel like talking to the detectives. Every time she did, the news of finding the boys seemed less and it felt more real.  
  
She didn't want it to feel real.  
  
Almost an hour after she had to prove to Inuyasha how much fun 'Maim Inuyasha Day' was, she'd gotten a call from one of the nicer policemen requesting she'd come. The new detective wanted to tell her something, he'd said.  
  
So, explaining to the others that she had to go for a bit, Kagome was beyond relieved when they insisted that they come too and wouldn't take no for an answer. Kagome decided that having stubborn friends was a good thing. Most of the time...  
  
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---  
  
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The time between the houses flew by and before Kagome could get herself settled in the car, it was time to get back out. "I don't want to do this," she complained under her breath. Kagome hoped that it was inaudible, but one person heard.  
  
"Hey, Kagome, slow down a second," Inuyasha put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, sure. Kagura, could you bring Rin inside? I guess we'll be right in..." Kagome looked back at Inu for confirmation. He nodded so the others went ahead. Turning back to him, Kagome plastered a smile on her face. "What do you need?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, _that_ sounded nice," Inu scowled. When Kagome rolled her eyes and started back to the house, he stopped her again. "You okay?"  
  
Kagome looked back at him and nearly burst out laughing. Her family was missing, she'd been kicked off her job, and her friends didn't even trust her to stay in her own house alone. She would have laughed, but Inuyasha looked too sincere. "Yeah, I'm fine," she brushed it off.  
  
She gave him a smile and began to walk towards Sango's front door again; Kagome noticed that the amount of police had lowered, but there were still a few patrolling the grounds.  
  
Inuyasha grabbed her arm again to wheel her around. "I just can't seem to get rid of you today!" She complained jokingly before giving him a serious look, "Come on. Kagura's going to wonder if we fell down a sewer or something."  
  
"What are you doing?" He snapped back at her, his purple eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
  
Kagome winced, taken aback by his tone. "Nothing! What are you talking about?"  
  
Inuyasha glared at her. "You're doing it _again_."  
  
"Doing what?" Kagome blinked, completely confused by whatever he was talking about.  
  
Inuyasha scowled at her and snatched his hand back from her arm. Stuffing his hands into his coat pockets, he started toward the front door obviously expecting Kagome to follow. "That..._that_ tone and look you got before."  
  
"Would you mind making sense?" Kagome yelled, jogging to keep up with the man.  
  
Inuyasha hung his head. "You're acting like it's all okay. You won't just, I don't know, _show_ that you're upset!" He snapped.  
  
Kagome frowned and turned away from him. "I do not!" she protested.  
  
"Yes, you do! You did it when Naraku was after you too. You just plaster on a fake smile and start worrying about other people instead of yourself. It's stupid!" He accused.  
  
Kagome walked faster, hoping that the conversation would end when she got safely inside. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not acting any differently."  
  
"I heard you crying," he told her dryly, trying to keep from getting eye contact with her wide blue eyes. "The day you found out they were gone. You cried."  
  
"Oh, sorry for bothering you!" she snapped. "I know how much you hate to see women cry!"  
  
Inuyasha kept his temper, surprising Kagome to no end. After a moment of silence, just as they reached the front door he turned to her. "I want you to cry again. At least when you're crying I know you can actually feel," Inu said quietly before going inside.  
  
After blinking at the door for a few seconds, Kagome followed.  
  
...  
  
Kagura stood just inside, scowling at a tall man while she clasped Rin's hand. Kagome wandered over to see what was wrong, and Kagura stepped back to stand even with Inuyasha. "This isn't going to be good," Kagura hissed darkly, eyeing the tall man as he introduced himself to Kagome.  
  
"Why?" Inuyasha questioned, not getting what was wrong.  
  
"Just watch," Kagura drawled.  
  
"Hello, Ms. Higurashi? I'm Detective Kori," The black haired man said smoothly, presenting a hand for the azure-eyed woman to shake.  
  
Kagome smiled politely and took his hand. "Nice to meet you, Detective Kori. Sorry I haven't spoken to you sooner."  
  
"That's all right." The Detective gave a small smirk before adopting a more somber look. "I just wanted to say...Ms. Higurashi, that I am sorry for your loss."  
  
Kagome's smile stayed in place, but now it seemed fixed. "What do you mean, sir?" she ground out. "You make it sound like the boys are _dead_."  
  
Detective Kori gave her a dry look before drawling emotionlessly, "As each second passes it's less likely we'll ever find them. I seriously hope you don't get your hopes up, I'd bet money on them being gone forever."  
  
While Kagome's smile finally fell she stared back at him blankly. Inuyasha barely stopped himself from strangling the guy. Next to him, Kagura winced even though she knew it was coming. Kori hadn't exactly been polite when she'd introduced herself as a friend of Kagome.  
  
Kagome swallowed thickly before looking the policeman straight in the eye. Shrugging softly, she brought her right fist directly in the unsuspecting man's jaw.  
  
"**YOU BASTARD**!" She shrieked, standing over the fallen guy.  
  
Spitting at him, smirking when it landed on his cheek, Kagome turned on her heel and marched back to the door she'd just come through. Pausing for moment she looked at Inuyasha, "Is that enough 'feeling' for you?" Kag asked dryly before leaving.  
  
Inuyasha blinked after her before looking back at the detective. A few other (discreetly smiling) officers were helping him up. "Did that just happen?" Inu asked Kagura.  
  
The red-orbed woman was smiling. "Yes it did. I couldn't have done better myself," she announced before turning to follow Kagome, Rin giggling as she walked after.  
  
Giving one last blank look at the scowling policeman, Inuyasha left with the others.  
  
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---  
  
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"Kagome...You _did not_ just punch out the detective in charge of finding the children." Sango explained to her friend, hoping that if she said it out loud, it'd be true.  
  
Kagome looked down at her twisting hands while the sounds of the diner went on around their booth.  
  
Inuyasha could barely cover his smirk at Sango's disbelieving look. "She did...and she has a pretty good right hook."  
  
"Are you sure it wasn't an upper cut?" Kagura asked Inuyasha from the other side of Kagome. Sango and Miroku, who sat across from them, blinked blankly at the three.  
  
"You guys must have been hallucinating or something," Miroku said, "Lady Kagome isn't capable of hitting a man."  
  
"Actually she did! Auntie Kag's fist went boom! Right into the mean man's face while Rin was watching!" Rin chirped from the table next to the grown- ups booth where she sat with Kohaku and Kanna.  
  
Sango shook her head sadly while looking down at the red tabletop. Before long, her laughter shook the table. "Oh, my Gods! I wish I had been there to watch!" She wiped a tear of mirth away from her eye.  
  
Miroku smiled but still stayed calm. "Violence is not the answer."  
  
"Hell yeah it is! You would have punched that fuc-,"  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome snapped.  
  
"-er- bastard if you were there too!" Inuyasha explained to the monk descendent.  
  
"I highly doubt that. I, unlike you, am not a brute," Miroku took a sip from his water.  
  
"Watch it Houshi..." Inu growled, restraining himself from the urge to slam the man's head into the table.  
  
"Well, whatever I did," Kagome interrupted, "It made me feel better."  
  
Sango grinned, "Then I guess it's all right. If it'll make you feel better, I give you permission to punch out a hundred cops."  
  
"Oh...and that's your call to make?" Inuyasha asked dryly.  
  
"Well, it is her call to make when it comes to me!" Miroku chirped while rubbing his cheek against Sango's arm...which he had glomped a little earlier. "I may not be a cop but I work with them!"  
  
"You do realize you just gave me the ok to give you a black eye," Kagome asked innocently.  
  
"Keh...like you could, girl." Inu snorted, oblivious to the glares from the three women surrounding him.  
  
"ARE YOU CALLING ME PATHETIC AGAIN?" Kagome roared. The solid metal napkin dispenser looked good right about then...it would do some serious damage if she slammed it into the jerk's head.  
  
"You mean he's done it before? He's called you weak?!" Kagura demanded, her furious red stare joining the blue and magenta ones. "That's it. Take it easy Kagome, I can handle it this time. You had your fun earlier. Call women weak, will you?"  
  
Kagome watched as Kagura stood up to reach over her head to Inuyasha's throat. Inuyasha was currently laughing his ass off...which only proved to infuriate Kagura more.  
  
"Okay, okay, break it up. I'll just throw all the ramen out." Kagome giggled at Inuyasha's incredulous look, "Hey, if you can't admit I can take care of myself, for the most part, your noodles go bye-bye."  
  
Rin and the other two children watched the conversation like they would a tennis match: their heads swinging back and forth. Rin couldn't take it anymore and burst into giggles, "Auntie Kag! You can't do that! Uncle Inu will cry!"  
  
Kagome blinked at the little girl. "Really? Then maybe it'll be worth it."  
  
"Don't you dare!" Inuyasha growled.  
  
Across the table, Miroku and Sango watched the couple's bickering. Miroku leaned over and whispered in his love's ear. "Can't you just see Inu's pride and manliness slipping away with all this talk of him crying...?"  
  
Sango laughed whole-heartily at that.  
  
"Your food is here!" Chirped a waitress, breaking up the laughing (and fighting) group of friends. This effectively gave peace for the rest of the afternoon as the friends chatted and ate, forgetting about the cruddy morning.  
  
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---  
  
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Souta looked sadly back at Shippou. "Does it hurt?" He asked sympathetically.  
  
Shippou looked teary eyed at his bloody arm. "I'm so sorry, Souta! I didn't mean to! I just- it just- way too quickly! I didn't see it happen!" The redhead's bottom lip trembled pitifully.  
  
Souta clucked his tongue just like his sister would have. The sound seemed to remind Shippou of his surrogate mother enough to calm him down some. "It's okay Shippou. It's not your fault," Souta soothed his nephew.  
  
Shippou sniveled and held his hurt arm to his chest after Souta finished bandaging it. "Okay." He looked sadly at his little arm, which had a three- inch long gash over it. "I was doing my job...and then my sleeve got caught. And it pulled me in! I couldn't stop it in time. It just..." Shippou squeaked.  
  
Souta patted the younger boy on the head. "I'm going to go for a few minutes. I'll be right back."  
  
"Where are you going?" Shippou hopped of one of the tiny mattresses the children used for beds to follow.  
  
"Stay here," Souta commanded. "I'll be right back," he repeated.  
  
"...Okay," but Shippou couldn't shake the feeling that his uncle was about to do something he'd regret later.  
  
Souta smiled down at the younger male, "It'll be okay. Don't trouble yourself."  
  
Souta walked purposely from the room. Keeping his back straight, he walked straight up to one the guards at the door by the kid's sleeping room. Glaring at the man defiantly, Souta demanded: "I need to see The Boss."  
  
The man laughed at the little boy. "No way kid. Get back in there before I have to force you," he sneered.  
  
Souta closed his eyes and counted to 10. "I really need to."  
  
"I said no!" the guard spat as he lifted his riffle. Before he could bring the butt of the gun down on Souta's head, a hand shot out and grabbed it.  
  
"Leave the boy alone. I'll talk to him," The Boss glared at the guard.  
  
"Y-yes sir," The man stammered. Although he was older than the brunette man who was in charged of the place, well...let's just say that The Boss was a very intimidating person.  
  
"Let's move, kid," The Boss commanded and began to lead Souta around the corner. Leaning against the wall, he looked down at the shorter male. "What do you need?"  
  
Souta gulped, but stood his ground. "My...brother got hurt today."  
  
"I know very well that it's your nephew, not your brother," The Boss interrupted. "But go on."  
  
"I want to take over his job. He works in the mornings and I work in the afternoon. I can do both our jobs until Shippou heals." Souta's voice remained steady and he was proud of himself.  
  
The Boss sighed and looked away for a moment, thinking. "No. It was your nephew's fault that he got hurt. Those machines are dangerous. He should have been watching what he was doing."  
  
Souta frowned. "Please," his voice cracked. He really didn't want to use that particular word with the man who took him away from his family, but he'd do anything for Shippou.  
  
The Boss studied the black haired boy. "You have a lot of guts, don't you? You're a lot stronger than most of these...brats. Do what you want, I'll inform the guards," the brunette waved Souta off and walked away.  
  
Souta watched the man leave dumbly. Sighing, he turned to go back to the sleeping room. It would take a lot to convince Shippou that he could handle both jobs for awhile.  
  
Shippou was, surprisingly, almost as stubborn as Souta.  
  
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---  
  
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"G'Night Sango! Miroku!" Kagome called as her friends got into Miroku's car to go home. "See you Kohaku!"  
  
Twilight was beginning to fall as the other five (Kagome, Kagura, Inuyasha, Kanna, and Rin) crammed themselves into the corvette. It was a tight fit, but they were all mature enough to take it without complaining.  
  
...  
  
"Can't you stop breathing so much, Kagura? You're taking all the air!" Inuyasha whined. "And can you turn the air conditioning on? It's too hot in here!"  
  
"It's the middle of December! I am not turning the air conditioning on!" Kagura snapped back. "Take your coat off if you're too hot!"  
  
Kanna shook her head silently at the bickering and started a conversation with Kagome, who sat directly in front of her. "Thank you for letting us using your housing in France."  
  
"That's okay," Kag grinned back at her, twisting to look over her shoulder. "I wasn't using it, and it was only fair that someone got some use out of it. I'm going to sell it next month."  
  
"Still...thank you," Kanna repeated in a whisper.  
  
"Are you going to stay in Tokyo?" Kagome asked.  
  
Kanna looked over at her ranting sister. She, like Inuyasha, was red in the face with rage as the argument turned to where the sisters would be staying. "I do believe so," she admitted slowly.  
  
"That's good. I'm glad," Kagome gave the silver haired girl a small smile. "We can all spend more time together."  
  
"Yes, that would make me very happy," Kanna drawled emotionlessly...however, Kagome could see the bright sparkle in the baby blue eyes.  
  
"Oh, by the way: don't worry about him," Kagome waved a hand at the angry looking man. "Inuyasha is always like that."  
  
Kanna returned Kagome's small smile. "Of that, I am sure. Thank you for your hospitality."  
  
Kagome grinned happily. "It's all right, I need some more female company. I know Rin, Miko, and I outrank Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru...but those two guys are pretty masculine and could be counted as more then just two men. Although...Come to think of it, Sesshy does have a certain feminine edge to him..."  
  
Kanna blinked back at the black haired beauty. "Okay..."  
  
"He has the best hair I have ever seen," Kagome sighed. "I'd kill to have hair like that...not really, but I'd still like it."  
  
While listening to Kagome's monologue, Kanna couldn't help but let a silent giggle slip. Maybe living with these people wouldn't be so bad?  
  
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---  
  
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A/N: I'm so sad! Ev pointed out that I couldn't keep my plot going for a really long time! What I think she meant, was that I won't have a lot of chapters for this story.  
  
But there's still a lot to go as far as I'm concerned. ::evil grin:: I have things planned.  
  
Review, please!  
  
Ja ne!  
  
Fay 


	9. Business Partner

A/N: SQUEEEEE! School is out! School is gone! WHOOT! I never have to go back to that school again! XD Sooo...This means I can update more than once a week! WHOOT!  
  
Thanks for the reviews! I love them all so, so, so much. (Sorry, I'm on a sugar high)  
  
Oh, and thanks for the person who pointed out I used 'empathy' instead of 'apathy' in the chapter 'A New Home'. They're complete opposites! It's official...I'm a complete and utter twit/ditz. I think I mixed them up because the definition I got was Apathy: without empathy. So...yeah, they've been changed around.  
  
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Disclaimer: I do not Inuyasha.  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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--- Last Chapter ---  
  
Kanna returned Kagome's small smile. "Of that, I am sure. Thank you for your hospitality."  
  
Kagome grinned happily. "It's all right, I need some more female company. I know Rin, Miko, and I outrank Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru...but those two guys are pretty masculine and could be counted as more then just two men. Although...Come to think of it, Sesshy does have a certain feminine edge to him..."  
  
Kanna blinked back at the black haired beauty. "Okay..."  
  
"He has the best hair I have ever seen," Kagome sighed. "I'd kill to have hair like that...not really, but I'd still like it."  
  
While listening to Kagome's monologue, Kanna couldn't help but let a silent giggle slip. Maybe living with these people wouldn't be so bad?  
  
--- End of Last Chapter ---  
  
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Chapter Nine: Business Partner  
  
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"Kagome?"  
  
The blue-eyed girl gave no response while simply staring out the kitchen window at the morning...So Inuyasha poked her again.  
  
"...Wench? If you don't tell me what the hell is wrong I'm going to-,"  
  
"It's Thursday," Kagome interrupted monotonously.  
  
Inuyasha blinked back at her. "Yesterday was Wednesday, so, yeah, it's Thursday."  
  
Kagura looked up from her morning paper to give Inuyasha an incredulous look. "You nitwit! If it's Thursday, that means tomorrow's Friday," she hissed while glaring over her toast.  
  
"And...?" His lavender eyes continued to stare at his two houseguests blankly. Sesshoumaru, this being his first breakfast together with his younger half brother and his employee...and now another guest as well, was already fed up.  
  
"Friday, dear brother-,"  
  
"Half brother," Inuyasha automatically corrected.  
  
"Friday, dear brother," Sesshoumaru repeated smoothly, his golden eyes the only hint to his annoyance, "is the anniversary of the disappearance."  
  
"One week already," Kagome sighed despairingly as she poked her meal with some chopsticks.  
  
Inuyasha did some calculations in his head before swallowing thickly. "Oh." Time for a conversation change. "Where's Kanna and the brat?"  
  
"If you call my daughter a brat, I'll rip your throat out and feed it to you," Sesshoumaru stated calmly while folding his own section of the paper.  
  
Inuyasha glared heavily at his older sibling. "Rin doesn't mind being called a brat."  
  
"It doesn't matter if it bothers her, it bothers me," Sesshoumaru pointed out with a quirked eyebrow.  
  
Inuyasha grumbled before leaning back in his chair to cross his arms. "Whatever. So where are the brats?"  
  
Kagura looked up from an article on an interesting wind formation to the south of Japan. Her scarlet eyes snapped onto his scowl, her own twisting her lips, and said simply: "Call Kanna a brat again and I'll turn you into a girl so fast you wouldn't have been able to blink."  
  
Inu blinked anyway.  
  
"She means she'll slam her pair of designer heels into your balls," Kagome cleared up for him while she still stared listlessly at the sky.  
  
Inuyasha grunted something that resembled 'I'd like to see her try' before going back to his own meal. Sesshoumaru, inwardly smirking at Kagura's insult's effects, finally turned his amber eyes on Kagome. "Why aren't you dressed for work?" he asked while taking in her sweatshirt, flannel pants, and fuzzy, pink, bunny slippers.  
  
"Why should I? I'm not going." She gave a pointed pout in Inuyasha's direction.  
  
Sesshoumaru turned his golden gaze into a lazy glare on the younger man. "What does she mean, Inuyasha? I need her to come in to help with our new business deal."  
  
"I already got her to sign the papers for that. She doesn't need to be there to meet him. Kagome needs to stay out of work." Inuyasha defended himself.  
  
Sesshoumaru decided to ignore his brother's pitiful attempts to explain himself. "Kagome, I expect you dressed and ready for work in ten minutes," he commanded before going back to the weather section. Looked like more snow...  
  
Kagome's mood perked up considerably and she gave a smug look to Inuyasha. "Yes, sir! Thanks boss," she chirped while pecking the older male on the cheek and running to 'her' room.  
  
"Why'd you have to go and do that. She needs to take a break," Inuyasha growled.  
  
Kagura watched silently as Sesshoumaru looked calmly up at his half brother. His response was not what she expected, however. "Inuyasha, is Kagome a normal woman, would you say?"  
  
Inuyasha snorted, "Hell no."  
  
Sesshoumaru leaned forward over the table to look his brother in the eye. "Then why do you keep treating her like one? Some women may need a break from work when tragedy occurs, but Kagome needs it to keep her sane. Plus," he added while adding a little more heat to his glare, "Without that woman our company will probably fail. The only reason, I'm sure, why we didn't go under while I was in Kyoto was because Kagome was the one left in charge."  
  
Inuyasha keh'd and then ignored Kagura's smirk.  
  
"I'm ready!" Kagome announced, bouncing back through the door in record time, her maroon business skirt and jacket surprisingly smooth and ironed.  
  
Sesshoumaru looked up briefly, "Good. We have a meeting first thing this morning with the owner of a clothing store we just signed on with."  
  
Kagome blinked. "When?"  
  
"The last day you were at work, I had you sign the acceptance papers. Remember?" Inuyasha questioned stiffly as he got up from the table.  
  
"Oh...right..." Kagome murmured, the memory vague.  
  
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--- _"Come in!" She shouted in, what she hoped was, her most professional voice.  
  
"Oh, good, you're still alive." Inuyasha walked in and plopped down in the chair in front of Sesshoumaru's desk, currently occupied by Kagome.  
  
"At least you knocked this time," Kag muttered under her breath.  
  
"Keh. Anyway, since Fluffy'll be gone till tomorrow, I need you to co-sign this contract."  
  
"Okay. What's it for?" she asked as she dragged the heavy document forward and scrawled her name across the top with a pen.  
  
"We're supporting some new clothing line. It's headed by some Dankotsu guy." Inu began to fist then open his hands in a poor attempt to keep busy while Kagome signed the twenty-eighth page.  
  
"Oh. Never heard of him," Kagome shrugged._ ---  
  
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"Let's get moving, girl," Inuyasha barked at Kagome, striding quickly out of the room.  
  
He didn't see Kagura's foot slide out from table until it was too late.  
  
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---  
  
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Kagome and her two bosses stepped out of the elevator and into the top floor—Inuyasha's office. Seeing their new client leaning against the desk, Kagome ended her conversation with Inuyasha about his after-breakfast trip to the kitchen floor.  
  
Their client happened to be a young man, perhaps a few years older than Inuyasha, with thick dark brown hair. The waist-length of it was trapped in a braid. Seeing the three leaders of the company finally arrive, he pushed away from the desk and went over to meet them halfway across the floor.  
  
"Hello, I'm Tsurugi, Bankotsu," he introduced himself smoothly. But instead of shaking the hand Inu had thrust out, Bankotsu had gone straight to Kagome's own dainty one. Bringing it up for a lingering kiss on the back, he gave a smirk to the flustered Vice President.  
  
Inuyasha closed his eyes slowly and growled low in his throat. He didn't like this guy.  
  
Kagome, not seeming to sense the tension, gave a brilliant smile. "Inuyasha here," she gestured to the glaring man on her right, "Told me that you own a clothing company."  
  
"That's right," Bankotsu nodded with another grin directed toward the young woman.  
  
"It has unbelievably well made clothes for extraordinary prices," Sesshoumaru informed as he glided to his brother's desk to sit in. Inuyasha, seeing this, just sputtered furiously. No one sat in his seat!  
  
"Expensive?" Kagome asked.  
  
"No. They're very...reasonable," Sesshoumaru corrected. It seemed to rub him the wrong way that this line of clothes was rather well in condition but surprisingly cheap.  
  
"Wow. Sounds too good to be true," Kagome blinked back at them all. "What's the name of this company?"  
  
"Kodomo's Company," Bankotsu supplied the answer.  
  
_(A/N: ::shifty eyes:: Kodomo = Children. Can anyone see where this is going?)_  
  
"Interesting name, why'd you choose it?" Kagome asked innocently, giving a disarming grin while she was at it.  
  
"...We'd like the public to know that we're a very...family involved store," Bankotsu explained hesitantly.  
  
Kagome and the others seemed to miss his small pause. "Wonderful. Sounds great," Kag clapped her hands together delightedly before remembering that it was a business meeting; she willed her fumbling hands to stop fiddling, and tried to appear more professional.  
  
"I heard that advertising was one of the Inutaisho Company's strong suits, so I came here," the brunette comfortably sat himself down in a chair.  
  
"Ms. Higurashi happens to be one of our best minds when it comes to advertising," Sesshoumaru praised, although his voice was still rather toneless.  
  
Kagome happened to miss the compliment. She was pacing in part of the room, already lost in her own little world. "This company does sound too good to be true. Lots of beautiful clothes for low prices. And even the name seems perfect!" She continued to mumble under her breath about the commercials and flyers that she could whip up. The three males watched her power walk back and forth silently.  
  
"I think..." Inuyasha started slowly, his first time speaking since he was aloud in the room. "...That Kagome will handle this one personally."  
  
Bankotsu nodded calmly while on the inside he smirked triumphantly. Turning back around, he looked at the co-presidents of the company with an easy grin. "Let's get started on my contract, shall we? We still have a lot to discuss."  
  
A good portion of the morning was set aside for the Presidents and Vice President of the Inutaisho Company to set up the contract with what was quite possibly their best client in a long time.  
  
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---  
  
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Downtown, in a more secluded part of Tokyo, the seemingly rundown warehouse was sitting peacefully. Inside of the large building, however, over 100 children worked endlessly, their only good fortune was that they were given food and shelter.  
  
Souta looked up just in time from Shippou's machine to catch The Boss walking through. The tall brown-haired man had a smug smirk spread over his features and that smirk sent a shiver through Souta's body.  
  
The Boss was happy about something. And that meant that the children would probably end up in further pain.  
  
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---  
  
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The Boss walked purposely into the large office on the upper floor of the warehouse. Already seated were his six colleagues.  
  
All six men looked up impatiently at the younger man. The brunette practically had happiness radiating off his body while he kept a cool façade. "The next step of the plan is complete. We are closer to our goal," he announced smugly, his mahogany eyes glinting evilly. "I just came back from the business meeting and we have the contract."  
  
"Good. 'Bout time," grunted the balding man. "And this won't backfire on us?"  
  
The happy vibe diminished and the brown eyes were now narrowed in irritation. "Yes, I'm sure. I've told you before, we will not fail."  
  
Another member of the group looked coolly up at The Boss. He was easily the oldest of the seven men, but he didn't seem to be angered by the fact that the man in charge was younger than him. "Good. If it does, however, you will be the only one caught...Bankotsu."  
  
Bankotsu smothered his sneer. "Understood," he stated before slamming his way out of his office. Why did they have to ruin his good mood?  
  
'Kagome Higurashi...Your going to give me what I want...and until then, you'll never know it was me that took away your little boys.'  
  
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---  
  
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"That Bankotsu sounds rather nice," Kagome commented idly as she took a sip out a can of soda.  
  
"What did you say?" Inuyasha glowered up at her from behind his desk.  
  
Kagome blinked down at him. She was currently sitting higher up, on the corner of the desk. "That he was nice?"  
  
"No. 'Bankotsu'. Why not Mr. Tsurugi?" Inuyasha narrowed his purple orbs at the woman.  
  
Kagome shrugged, seemingly unaffected by his gruff attitude. "He told me I could call him by his first name."  
  
"Keh."  
  
"Don't you know any other comebacks other than 'keh'?" Kagome complained.  
  
"...Feh...?"  
  
"You're hopeless," Kagome grinned wryly before hopping down. "I've wasted enough time hiding out in here. I should be going to do my work. If anyone asks where I am..." she hesitated, thinking up an alibi. Shrugging, she finished, "I'm dead."  
  
"Right," Inu grunted.  
  
"Thanks!" Kag left through the doors and rode down the elevator to her own office.  
  
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---  
  
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Kagome trudged up the long driveway that led to Inuyasha's house. It had snowed sometime during the afternoon, so the car ended up stalling down by the road.  
  
That meant that the businesswoman had to walk the half-mile to the feudal palace turned home, and not very happily at that.  
  
Sighing in relief at the sight of the tan stone, Kagome picked up her pace, only to trip over something in the deep snow. Scowling, she reached down to pick up the newspaper, which was buried in the white fluff.  
  
"So this is where last Wednesday's paper went," she rolled her eyes and tucked the soggy bundle under her arm and fished the front door keys out of her purse. Slipping the silver piece of metal into the lock, Kagome missed the flash of light coming from the bushes...  
  
...And the hurried steps of the reporter running with his camera.  
  
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---  
  
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"Yeah? Well at least I don't have a name meaning 'dog'!" Kagura snapped, her fiery eyes flaming as she glared at Inuyasha.  
  
"Fuck, wench, at least I don't have to hide like a coward since I have the cops on my tail!" Inuyasha yelled back just as angry, his lavender eyes on fire with hatred for the woman.  
  
Kagome, while furiously rubbing her temples, held up hand for peace. "Please, stop. STOP!" Kagome glowered at her two friends, "Is it impossible for you two to get along?"  
  
"Keh, like I started it," Inu protested while leaning back into the chair, sulking.  
  
Kagura groaned and joined Kagome with rubbing her temples. "I need something. I'm getting a headache."  
  
"At least you know what it feels like now," Inuyasha ground out, "I've had a headache since you got here."  
  
Before Kagura could open her mouth to retort, a pillow came slamming into Inuyasha's head. "I said no more fighting!"  
  
Inuyasha looked back at Kagome while rubbing his cheek. "If you had to hit me with a pillow, couldn't you have at least done it with a feather one? Those bricks Fluffy calls couch pillows hurt like hell," he complained.  
  
"I don't care. You'll both behave yourselves from now, no?" Kagome's stared at them through half-lidded eyes, her stormy orbs blazing.  
  
"Yeah, sure. I'll stop as long as the mutt doesn't insult me first. If you could call those pathetic comments insults," Kagura scoffed.  
  
Inuyasha open his mouth to yell something back, but another pillow hit him.  
  
"No." Kagome commanded simply as she glared at him. "Now lets go get something to eat. I'm hungry. You guys?"  
  
"You know I'm hungry..." Inuyasha stared pitifully at his growling stomach.  
  
"Yeah, it'll be good to have some cuisine from home," Kagura stated as she stood up. "Where to?"  
  
Kagome shrugged. "Why don't I go grab the kids and, Inuyasha, you can go warm up a car. Kagura, why don't you go find Sesshoumaru?"  
  
"Sure," Kagura sauntered out of the room, happy to get away from 'the mutt'.  
  
"Keh,:" Inuyasha mirrored Kagome's earlier shrug and stalked out of the room.  
  
"Sweet silence," Kagome sighed happily before going of in search of Rin and Kanna.  
  
Five minutes later Inuyasha and Kagome and the girls sat comfortably in the toasty car, waiting for the two others in their party. A door slam and some quick steps later, a blushing Kagura came down the walk with an irritated Sesshoumaru gliding after her.  
  
Kagome and the others watched in interest as Kagura stopped in mid-step to turn back to the elder Youkai brother.  
  
"How the hell did you expect me to know you were changing?" Kagura demanded, her blush of embarrassment changing to one of anger.  
  
"Normally a closed door requests privacy," Sesshoumaru drawled dryly as he walked past the flushed woman.  
  
"And I was supposed to know that was your bedroom? I thought it was the library! I've only been here for a day! All the doors look the same." Kagura growled back at him before sashaying her way to the car to slide into the back seat with the other girls.  
  
"It's final," Kagura muttered to Kagome, "Both of the Youkai brothers are asses."  
  
Kagome giggled silently, "I could've told you that."  
  
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---  
  
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"Good Japanese food, made in an actual Japanese restaurant," Kagura smirked happily as she stared down at her steaming plate. "Don't get me wrong, I loved France and it's food, but frog legs could never take the place of fresh squid."  
  
Kagome smiled at her friend as she dug into her own food. "It's been a long day," she sighed.  
  
Inuyasha glanced up from across the table and missed Rin, who was sitting between him and Sesshoumaru, sneaking some of his food. "Sure, I guess. I've had worse."  
  
"Like being shoved off a building?" Kagome suggested while smiling innocently.  
  
"Keh. Fine, that still tops my worst day." Inuyasha mumbled before going back to his food. He eyed it for a minute before glancing at the halo-over- the-head-angel-of-a-Rin.  
  
"Is it really that bad to be shoved off a building?" Kagura asked while looking at the blue-eyed woman.  
  
"It's bad, but not as bad as when you aren't able to catch yourself," Kagome winced, thinking of the body bag at the base of her company building after Naraku fell. The image still haunted her after three months.  
  
Kagura shrugged, not seeming to be disturbed by the subject. "How's it feel Kagome...to be free again, I mean?"  
  
Kagome nibbled at the end of her chopsticks as she thought about it. "...Free- er...?" She haphazard a guess. "I don't know. It just feels like it did before I dated Naraku, except I'm not worrying about high school; now I'm worrying about a company."  
  
"Hn," Kagura accepted the vague answer. "How's Mrs. Higurashi?"  
  
"Mama? She's okay. She's my rock as always," Kagome mumbled. "Solid, and there to hang onto in the toughest of times. Yep, that's Mama."  
  
"Good to hear. You're grandfather?" Kagura asked. She didn't really know Kagome's family, but it was never too late to start.  
  
"Jii-san is doing okay. I didn't see him the last time I went back home, but I did two weeks before that. He's as...eccentric as ever."  
  
"Eccentric? The good or the bad kind?"  
  
Kagome giggled, "A little bit of both."  
  
Inuyasha just watched the two women talk as though they'd been friends since childhood. It was amazing the kind of effect Kagome seemed to have on people; she could become the best of friends with even people as hardcore as Kagura.  
  
"It's getting late," Sesshoumaru commented when there was a lull in the conversation between the females. He gave a look to Rin and then Kanna, "We should all be heading in for sleep soon. There's still one more day left before the weekend."  
  
Kagome, not wanting to Friday to come, suggested: "Why don't we go for ice cream?"  
  
Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow at his Vice President, "It's the middle of December."  
  
Kagura gave the man a withering glare...or it would have been withering if the man hadn't been Sesshoumaru. "Ice cream is good anytime of the year. It sounds good, Kagome."  
  
As the small party left the restaurant Kagome gave a wink to Kanna and Rin. She leaned down to whisper into their ears, "No sense in letting this evening end too soon."  
  
Kanna smiled at the older woman, "Do they have Rocky Road?" she asked timidly.  
  
Kagome grinned, "They better, that's my favorite too."  
  
Not only did Kagome have an extreme hunger for chocolate...but she also didn't want to go to sleep quite yet. Going to sleep meant when she woke up it would be Friday.  
  
And Friday meant she'd gone another day without her boys.  
  
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---  
  
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A/N: I'm putting this out a lot later than I would have wanted to. I know it's short but I didn't want to keep adding on meaningless stuff.  
  
That back flash was from the chapter 'A new home' if you didn't remember it. I tried to introduce Bankotsu way back there so that I could slip him later in easier. I'll be doing that a lot... ::shifty eyes as evil plans form::  
  
Ooo...and Lord Aries Greymon? If you're still reading this far in, I'd like to talk about that beta-reading offer. Heh...heh...I seem to be making a lot more mistakes than I'd like and Evy gets hardly any time on the computer...  
  
Ja ne!  
  
Fay 


	10. Hurtful

A/N: I know you're supposed to update more when it's summer...but my summer started out with a depressing incident. I'm sorry I'm taking so long to get my chapters out but I'm helping some friends through a bad time, I'll try harder, I swear.  
  
Oh, and I'm writing this after having only 2 ½ hours of sleep...Oh joy...add that to the fact that it's almost midnight and I still haven't taken a nap, well...you get the idea.  
  
---Samieko: Glad to hear you're sticking with me for the sequel to Dashed Hopes. I don't think this is as popular as the first story, but that doesn't matter, I enjoy reading it.  
  
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Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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--- Last Chapter ---  
  
As the small party left the restaurant Kagome gave a wink to Kanna and Rin. She leaned down to whisper into their ears, "No sense in letting this evening end too soon."  
  
Kanna smiled at the older woman, "Do they have Rocky Road?" she asked timidly.  
  
Kagome grinned, "They better, that's my favorite too."  
  
Not only did Kagome have an extreme hunger for chocolate...but she also didn't want to go to sleep quite yet. Going to sleep meant when she woke up it would be Friday.  
  
And Friday meant she'd gone another day without her boys.  
  
--- End of Last Chapter ---  
  
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Chapter Ten: Hurtful  
  
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"Good morning," Inuyasha announced unusually quietly as he entered his kitchen to find Kagome and Kagura sitting at the table already. With Kagome not being a morning person he wondered why she was always there before him...  
  
Soon his thoughts took a different turn: it was Friday, hence the being quiet. Kagome wouldn't be very friendly on the one-week anniversary of her boys' disappearance.  
  
Inuyasha reminded himself strongly that he needed to be on his best behavior...or have to face the wrath of Kagome's mood swings.  
  
The woman was able to switch from depressingly sad to dangerously angry too quickly for him to keep his defenses up.  
  
"G'Morning," Kagura mumbled while nibbling at her bagel. She didn't have much of an appetite and most of her attention was directed to watching Kagome from the corner of her eye.  
  
"Uh...Good morning?" Inuyasha repeated again for Kagome's benefit, her mind didn't seem to be working that quickly that day.  
  
"Hm," Kagome hummed. Whether in agreement or not, Inu wasn't sure. He didn't feel like bothering her to find out either.  
  
Inuyasha slumped at the table and glared at everything except the two women.  
  
Now what would be a safe topic? He had no clue...  
  
"...Anyone seen the weather? If we get any more damn snow I'm moving to Maui..." he grumbled.  
  
Kagome was the one to respond. She shrugged loosely at continued to stare at her tea as she mumbled, "I couldn't find the paper this morning to look at the weather. We'll have to find one at work."  
  
"Crap," Inuyasha growled. "I don't feel like waiting that long..."  
  
"Then why don't you just go and turn on the TV to watch the morning news?" Kagura comment dryly, glaring lazily at the man.  
  
"...Because that would actually require work and movement," Sesshoumaru explained as he entered the kitchen to sit silently next to Kagura; the other two seats were filled by his brother and his employee.  
  
Kagura gave him a nasty glare, still miffed about the incident with her walking in on him changing, but the male didn't seem to notice.  
  
'Moron,' Kagura scoffed, turning hastily away to continue to nibble at her bagel.  
  
Inuyasha tipped his chair back and balanced on the back legs out of sheer boredom. After the others continued to eat in silence he finally snapped. "That's it! I am not sitting in this fucking kitchen another minute...I'm heading into work early."  
  
"Can't handle peace and quiet?" Kagome taunted lamely but stood up anyway. "I'm coming too, I'm not hungry and I'd like to see a newspaper."  
  
'Oh joy, a ride in the car with Miss Happiness,' Inuyasha grumbled as he set about locating his coat and the car keys.  
  
Kagome followed numbly behind, deep in thought.  
  
As they pushed their way through the snow to get to the car she couldn't help the nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen...  
  
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---  
  
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Kagome felt very self-conscious as she and Inuyasha clambered off of the elevator and into his office.  
  
Ever since they had gotten to work, everyone had been casting weird glances at them. Kagome didn't feel very social at the moment so she kept her head down and did her best to ignore the rude stares. Inuyasha, on the other hand, snarled openly at them and demanded what their problem was.  
  
Most, in fear of losing their jobs, had scurried away without answering; what was left of the employees snickered and walked off casually.  
  
"Do you know what...that was?" Kagome questioned as she slumped into his chair behind his desk. Apparently Inuyasha didn't mind her sitting in his chair...just Sesshoumaru judging by the fact that he hadn't become outraged as soon as her business skirt clad rear end had landed in the swivel chair.  
  
"Fuck no, but I'm about to find out," He ground out. It didn't feel right. It was like the workers all knew something, something secret, that they had no right to know.  
  
Kagome sighed and glowered up at him, her quiet mood beginning to rub off as the day brought things for her to think about. "Don't go scaring your workers. If we get sued, it's your fault and I'm not bailing you out."  
  
"Keh. Like hell you ever bail me out."  
  
"..." Kagome decided it best not to answer that question. The problem was: what was going on?  
  
While Kag continued to daydream and Inuyasha resorted to a video game that came seemingly out of nowhere, the elevator 'dinged' and Ayame stepped out.  
  
Kagome looked at her friend and motioned her to come in before Ayame could knock. "Hey, what up?"  
  
The redhead blinked back at her female boss before turning an accusing glare on Inuyasha. "She doesn't know? You're probably hiding the paper from her so she can't read it!" Ayame shouted outraged as she advanced on the confused man. "I bet it's all a lie that you fed to some reporter for Kami knows why!"  
  
Inuyasha blinked blankly back at the woman before he returned her glare. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, bitch, but talking that way to me can get you fired."  
  
"And calling me bitch can make me sue!" Ayame growled back, not easily scared off.  
  
Kagome coughed something that sounded similar to 'I told you so' behind Inuyasha's back, but he waved it off. "What the fuck are you talking about?!"  
  
Ayame's glare became even more heated as she stalked forward. She threw a section of the daily newspaper at her boss' head and snarled, "That's what I'm talking about."  
  
Inuyasha read the title.  
  
When he growled low in his throat Kagome tried to grab the paper away but he lifted it out of her reach. He then turned startled eyes on the crimson- haired woman. "Ayame," he asked gruffly, "Do you know where this came from? I have no idea what the hell this guy is talking about."  
  
Ayame's heated gaze stayed simmering, "Sure you don't," she bit back sarcastically. "Come off it Inuyasha, you have to."  
  
"I don't," Inu told her bluntly.  
  
Kagome's morning depression was gone as she stared at her two coworkers angrily. "What are you two talking about? I demand to know!"  
  
Ayame finally turned to the ebony haired beauty. "Kagome...there's an article in the newspaper about you..."  
  
"Again?" Kagome asked blankly. "Are you sure it's not the same one about the new detective or something?"  
  
"I'm sure," Ayame stated slowly. "Kagome-chan, it came out today and it even has a picture of you."  
  
Kagome was still not getting it and turned her confused stormy gaze on Inuyasha. "Give me the paper," she commanded, her voice leaving no room for argument.  
  
Inuyasha dropped the paper reluctantly into her hands. "Keh."  
  
Kagome unfolded the mutilated tree and peered at one of the front articles on the newspaper section.  
  
The article boldly stated that Kagome was taking comfort in her boss' bed while her boys were still out there missing and possibly dead.  
  
Kagome skimmed over the article again. Apparently she was secretly seeing Inuyasha and living at his house without anyone knowing. A large photograph beside the paragraphs showed her walking up Inuyasha's driveway and picking up a soggy newspaper.  
  
While Kagome read further into the story, Inuyasha was torn between being amused and beyond pissed off. It stated what he wanted--- to be seeing Kagome for more then friendly outings and business meetings. Of course at the same time it posted lies and fake information that clearly was going to upset Kagome.  
  
Judging by the look on the young woman's face, he was right. First she looked shocked, then disgusted, and finally angry.  
  
So this was why everyone in the building was avoiding them?  
  
'Keh,' Inuyasha scowled, 'This damn business building is worse than Jr. High and it's rumors.'  
  
Ayame sat quietly on the sidelines, waiting for Kagome to finish reading the news.  
  
Kagome's expression cycled through again:  
  
Shocked  
  
Disgusted  
  
Angry  
  
...  
  
And then she burst out laughing.  
  
Ayame was so startled that she took a few steps backward and had to try not to stumble over her own feet. Inuyasha, while it more than surprised him, also confirmed his suspicions:  
  
Kagome was having mood swings again.  
  
Oh the joy of life and how she dealt with her problems. Cover up the hurt and fear to make sure everyone else was all right.  
  
"Kagome," Inuyasha looked at her warily.  
  
Kagome smothered her giggles and looked at him. "They said you and I were together! Wow, of course we're going to be hanging out together and you're going to offer me a place to stay...any moron could have told them that we're friends."  
  
Those simple statements from Kagome made him both relieved and sad. Kagome wasn't taking the article seriously and was letting it roll right off her back. That was good, she wasn't letting idiots and their lies get to her at her time of 'weakness'. The bad thing? She seemed to find the idea of being with him funny and farfetched.  
  
"Ayame, would you mind...I don't know...leaving?" Inuyasha snapped, catching both girls by surprise.  
  
Ayame's bottle green eyes narrowed before she stalked out of his office. Pressing the down button, she turned back to Kagome as the elevator doors opened behind her. "Hey, Kag? Wanna have some lunch together?"  
  
"Yeah, sure," Kagome answered distractedly while looking at Inuyasha strangely. Wasn't he taking this a little too seriously? They could just call the newspaper, chew them out, then pull some strings and get some people fired.  
  
Or was that a little too much...?  
  
"That sounds good. While I'm downstairs, if anyone says anything about the article, I'll set them straight," Ayame's green eyes glinted with an underlying malice.  
  
Kagome caught it. "Ayame...don't hurt them. I'd rather not be sued."  
  
Ayame grinned a perfectly innocent smile before backing into the elevator. "Don't worry about it, Kagome-chan." She waved through the shutting doors.  
  
"Somehow I don't feel very convinced..." Kagome continued to stare even after her coworker had left.  
  
"Hey," Inu's voice dragged her out of her unblinking watch. "What are we going to do about that damn article. Can I strangle the writer? I mean, how many people are going to notice a measly reporter missing?"  
  
"Ha, ha," Kagome glared. "No strangling. We can, however, hunt him down and throw him off a bridge. If they can't find the body, we can't be blamed, right?"  
  
That got Inuyasha back to smirking. Ah, the wonders of drowning men in rivers... "That sounds good. But...first we have to get through the day. We've been here how long? One fucking hour..." He continued to growl and grumble as Kagome shook her head sadly.  
  
"Whatever. I'm going to go down to my office and look through the new accounts. I need to start to working on Bankotsu's clothing line. It's top priority, right? Hmm...do you think Hojo or Ayame might mind if I dumped some of my current projects on them?"  
  
"If they say anything, just tell them I ordered it," Inuyasha flashed her a toothy, slightly evil grin.  
  
She narrowed her ocean eyes. "Uh huh...Don't you think you're overusing your power as the owner of this company?"  
  
He seriously seemed to give it some thought before shrugging and pushing Kagome out of his chair. Collapsing in it, he shut his purple orbs and leaned back. "I'm going to take a nap."  
  
Kagome hit him over the head with a random pen on his desk before stalking out. "Jerk..."  
  
"I heard that!" He snapped without opening his eyes.  
  
"I know!"  
  
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---  
  
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"So...how many people did you hit this morning?" Kagome asked casually as she slurped up her cola through one of those handy plastic straws.  
  
Ayame shifted a little and tried to smother her smirk. "...Six."  
  
Kagome snorted. "You know what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"If anyone tells us that we're not lady-like just because we hit people and love cars," Kagome smiled sweetly, "We'll give them a bikini wax and see if they're woman enough to take it."  
  
Ayame snickered. "We'll put them in a dress that ties in the back and see it they can get out of it without help."  
  
"We'll pluck their eyebrows and give them some 20 pound platform shoes," Kagome nodded enthusiastically as she started to attack her dessert viscously. Mmm, Death by Chocolate Cheesecake...  
  
"Oh, I know..." Ayame smirked, "We'll make 'em wear panty-hose!"  
  
A few other customers in the small café looked startled at the maniacally cackling women.  
  
"Perfect!" Kagome crowed. "I wanna test it out."  
  
"Well, we'll just have to pick a spot and get elbow deep in oil while checking under the hood of a car...then punch anyone who says anything about it."  
  
"Not just someone saying anything, a man offering to help because we're 'pathetic' women," Kagome scowled as she remembered Inuyasha insulting her, saying she was weak just because she was female.  
  
Ayame scooped some ice cream and lifted it to her mouth. Some man walked in at the moment and gave a charming smile before asking her innocently, "Isn't it a little cold outside to be eating ice cream?"  
  
He was rewarded with twin glares. "It is never too cold for ice cream!" Ayame hissed, flipping her fiery hair over a shoulder with a haughty gesture.  
  
Kagome rolled her eyes and pouted at the man, "Why don't you guys understand that ice cream is everyday kinda food?"  
  
The man made a few hasty apologies before scrambling to the counter to order his food...to go.  
  
The emerald-orbed girl gave her blue-eyed counterpart a sympathetic look. "Poor you, living with someone like Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru..."  
  
"Yeah," Kagome snorted, "Just last night they were saying that it was too cold for ice cream!"  
  
"Those creeps!"  
  
"Ugh," Kagome groaned as she glanced at her watch. "Our lunch break is over in about five minutes."  
  
"Seriously?" Ayame looked a little put out. "I mean, you're the Vice President, right? Couldn't you just get the bosses to, uh, overlook it if we came in a little late?"  
  
Kagome laughed a little. "Normally, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but today I want to get some work done on the new project."  
  
"How's that going anyway?" Ayame questioned as she signaled to the waiter to bring them the check. Kagome and her evenly split it down the middle and paid.  
  
As they stood up and grabbed their coats, Kagome shrugged. "I just met him yesterday. He's pretty nice, he has more manners than some I could mention," she frowned as she pictured Inuyasha's face.  
  
"Hm," Ayame hummed in agreement and opened the door so they could go out on the street to start walking back. They were hit with a cold blast of chilly air that forced them to tie their scarves tighter. "Oh, by the way, thanks for giving me all those assignments," the crimson haired girl drawled dryly as they started back.  
  
Kagome winced before swallowing. "Sorry about that. Sesshoumaru seems to really want to take this account seriously. I wanted to get my other jobs out of the way so I could give it more thought. If you want, I can take some of them away and give them to Nobunaga or someone else."  
  
"Nah, that's okay. I'm just arguing for the sake of arguing," Ayame grumbled.  
  
"Hah! Now you sound like Inuyasha. Ugh, just what I need, another one of him. You know, it's really hard to be optimistic with someone like him there all the time," Kagome frowned. Damn pessimistic people...  
  
(A/N: Sadly, I am one of those pessimistic people...)  
  
Ayame laughed. "Don't worry. You don't have to be optimistic all the time! Just try to look on the bright side and act like whatever the hell you want to," she advised.  
  
Kagome grinned. "That would be just great if I knew how I wanted to act. It's kind of hard to look on the bright side if the two best men in your life are missing..." she said somberly.  
  
Ayame patted her friend on the back. "Don't worry about it. You're just unsure right now. You don't want to be happy without the boys but being sad and angry is against your nature. You'll figure it out."  
  
"Thanks," Kagome murmured as she lifted the collar of her coat against the bitter cold. They were pretty close to work.  
  
"No prob," Ayame nodded. "And if anyone gives you any crap," here she coughed and it sounded vaguely like 'Inuyasha', "Just call me and I'll be glad to hit him, uh, them. Not that I know it'll be a him...or anything...uh..."  
  
"You and your hitting," Kagome scoffed, "You really should try kicking once in awhile."  
  
The two girls got back to work on a lighter note and entered the building laughing at Kagome's corny joke.  
  
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---  
  
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"Kagome?" Inuyasha taped on the outside of her office door before letting himself in. She barely glanced up from her work at him. Collapsing into his chair, he glared at the top of her head.  
  
'She wore her hair down today...' He lazily thought. 'I like it when she wears her hair down.'  
  
"You know it's seven thirty, right?" He grumbled. "The last time I made you stay after seven you slugged me in the jaw...don't tell anyone, but that hurt!"  
  
"I was having a stressful day," Kagome defended herself. "Besides, that was over two months ago."  
  
"Stressful day, my ass," Inuyasha rolled his lavender eyes and then kept them trained on the ceiling. "That was the day I gave you your new office. Not just any office, but an entire floor!"  
  
"Hey, you and Sesshoumaru-sama get a floor to yourselves," she sulked, feeling bad for the tantrum she'd thrown back then when Inuyasha had told her she only got half a floor to herself.  
  
"Whatever. Why does Fluffy get a title? 'Sesshoumaru-sama' this, 'Lord Sesshoumaru' that," he brooded.  
  
"I'm sorry," Kagome looked up at him before leaning across her desk. "Fine then, Inu-chan," she pecked him on the nose before leaning back to her files; a curtain of her ebony locks hid her flaming cheeks from view.  
  
Inuyasha blinked back at her. 'Inu-chan...' Oh yeah, that made him feel manly...  
  
"Anyway," he finally shook his head. "I came in here to see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat with me before heading back home."  
  
"Hn," Kagome grunted. "You sure about that? Anyone who read that article today would just start rumors if they saw us eating together..."  
  
"Keh," Inuyasha crossed his arms. "They do and I'll break their nose."  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome snapped.  
  
"Hey," he growled, "I could break a lot worse. You should be proud I'd only break their nose."  
  
"Whatever." Kagome finally shuffled all her papers into the file on her desk. She stuffed it into one of her drawers and stood up for the first time in hours. Stretching her arms over her head, she arched her back and yawned. Smiling when she heard her back crack, she stepped out from behind her desk and smiled up at Inuyasha...who'd stood up while she was taking her time getting up. "Ready?"  
  
"Keh."  
  
"I'll take that as a yes. Where to?"  
  
"Uh...some place with ramen," Inuyasha smiled in a dazed way at the mention of his favorite meal.  
  
Kagome wrinkled her nose. "No way. Why don't we grab something at a fast food restaurant?"  
  
"Oh yeah, greasy barely-edible meat products are way better then noodles," he rolled his eyes and scowled at her.  
  
"So? I like meat products..." Kagome defended herself half-heartedly; there was no way she was going to have ramen for dinner again.  
  
"Feh."  
  
"Why are you so eager to leave early?" Kagome finally asked as they waited for the elevator to lower itself all the way down to ground level. "You're normally stuck here till eight or nine...and happily at that, I might add."  
  
"I'm allowed to leave early once in awhile," Inu snapped. Kagome let his tone roll right off of her.  
  
"'kay," she muttered. A few seconds later the doors swung open and the couple stepped out. Kagome waved cheerfully to the few people still hanging around the lobby before heading home.  
  
Inuyasha pulled one night guard aside and informed him to make sure to lock up after everyone was gone. They didn't use to have guards, just a few major locks, but after Naraku broke in and got Kagome to come in too, Inuyasha assigned a few 'bodyguards'.  
  
"You driving?" Kagome asked as they made their way towards the large parking garage next door to the Inutaisho Company building.  
  
"It's my car," Inuyasha said gruffly. Of course...Kagome did have the big blue eyes. And wasn't he supposed to be the one with the puppy eyes? "Keh."  
  
Kagome caught the keys happily when he tossed them at her.  
  
Locating the car with the handy press-a-button-and-the-car-beeps-and-lights- up attachment, the two clambered into the car; one a cheerful driver, and one an unhappy back-seat driver.  
  
"Slow down. No, right...not left! It'll be quicker-."  
  
"Would you shut up?" Kagome snapped, "Sheesh, I can drive ya know!"  
  
"Keh. I was just helping."  
  
"No, you weren't. That's why I'm snapping! Helping would mean helping..." Kagome glared at the road and the back of the car in front of her.  
  
"Uh huh..." he seemed to struggle over something in his mind before rounding on her. "I have a question."  
  
"Good for you," Kagome mumbled.  
  
"Why did you laugh this morning when you read that article? Would it be that bad dating me?" he barked.  
  
Kagome shifted in her seat before pulling to a stop in front of a long red light. "I didn't mean it like that."  
  
"Oh you didn't, did you?"  
  
"No." she said quietly, keeping her eyes trained on the fading light in the distance as the very last rays from the sun was swallowed up by the night.  
  
"..." Inuyasha scowled heavily as he glared ahead of him. Maybe it wasn't right to ask her, especially when she was driving. It would have been better to wait until they were somewhere where he could walk away when she said something he didn't really want to hear. He wasn't a coward, he just didn't feel up to the whole 'yeah I couldn't possibly imagine being connected to you in any-.'  
  
What was that?  
  
Inuyasha shook himself from his thoughts to look down at the weight that had appeared in his lap. He was presented with the head of Kagome as she hugged him around the middle, burying her face into his side.  
  
"I'm sorry," her muffled voice floated up, "I really didn't mean it like that."  
  
Inuyasha patted her awkwardly on the top of her hair before ruffling it. He stealthily stuck his hand out the window to flip off the honking cars behind him since the light had turned green.  
  
"What did you mean then?" He tried to ask lightly and act nice as he stroked her bangs back. Damn, why'd they'd have to have a 'special' moment while driving home, couldn't they have had it in a stationary place...  
  
...He really didn't mean it like the way that sounded...maybe his mind was being tainted by Miroku.  
  
"Uh, I don't know, I just didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry," She told him hesitantly before hugging him a little tighter and letting go. She flipped the car in gear and pressed down on the gas.  
  
Inuyasha just watched her from the passenger seat as she kept her face forward, her eyes looking a little more troubled the normal.  
  
Kagome tried to ignore the feeling that Inuyasha was watching her.  
  
She was a little preoccupied.  
  
How could she tell him that she was really laughing at the irony, that the newspaper article was about what she was trying to prevent: being with him? And how was she supposed to explain that when she read it...  
  
...She felt like she wanted it more then she wanted to admit?  
  
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A/N: Um...You see, I've been really busy. I wrote an angst/romance oneshot that I'll be posting soon...and I'm starting a short series fic with Ev. It's a collection of serious 100 word stories about what happens to each of the key characters after Naraku meets his downfall...It'll be posted under her name...  
  
Ev is now Alma Sol; there is no longer 'Saiyan' in front of it.  
  
...I also now have 3 dogs. I have my two best boys (Ducati, my 90 pound Black Lab mix and Augie, my 35 pound poodle mix] Now I also have another 90 pound Black Lab mix, only it's a girl. Her name is Angel and she's lost. We've found her once before [which is why I know her name] but this time her collar is missing so we can't contact her owners.  
  
So I guess I have a new dog...  
  
Ja ne!  
  
Fay [So, so, so, so sorry for this being so late!]  
  
Beta read performed by: "Lord Aries Greymon" One mistake found, and corrected./ 


	11. Meanwhile

I'm writing this at 6:30am after no sleep! I'm very temperamental at this point and I'm prone to make many mistakes...I leave it up to my beta-reader to catch 'em.  
  
Thanks for all those who reviewed telling me [in my words] that I'm a dork for ever thinking that this story isn't as good as its first part... 'Dork' is what I call an affectionate insult.  
  
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Disclaimer: ::tries to rhyme::  
  
If I own him,  
  
Then I'm a dolt!  
  
I might as well,  
  
Join a cult!  
  
That's all fine,  
  
To each his own!  
  
I do not own Inuyasha,  
  
But I do own a phone...  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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--- Last Chapter ---  
  
Inuyasha just watched her from the passenger seat as she kept her face forward, her eyes looking a little more troubled the normal.  
  
Kagome tried to ignore the feeling that Inuyasha was watching her.  
  
She was a little preoccupied.  
  
How could she tell him that she was really laughing at the irony, that the newspaper article was about what she was trying to prevent: being with him? And how was she supposed to explain that when she read it...  
  
...She felt like she wanted it more then she wanted to admit?  
  
--- End of Last Chapter ---  
  
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Chapter Eleven: Meanwhile  
  
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"Here you go," a cheerful worker chirped as he handed the take out to Kagome. She accepted it dully.  
  
Inuyasha nodded to the guy behind the counter before placing a hand on the small of Kagome's back to lead her out of the restaurant. She'd been pretty quiet since her emotional outburst in the car.  
  
"Thank you," she mumbled when Inuyasha opened the passenger door open for her. She plopped down while he slid into the driver's seat and started up his car. Kagome leaned forward to fiddle with the radio and, as soon as music filled the confines of the auto, leaned back to sit docilely with the food resting in her lap.  
  
Inuyasha tapped along on the driver's wheel in time with the beat of the song while Kagome sat on her side staring at the dark road ahead, thinking about the strange day.  
  
She was embarrassed. Did she have to have to make that little scene?  
  
No...  
  
...But at least Inuyasha didn't think she thought a relationship with him was joke anymore.  
  
"Hey, we're almost there," he broke through her musings.  
  
Tired of keeping quiet, she smiled back at him and nodded. Inuyasha sighed, happy to see her acting a little more alive for the moment.  
  
Pulling to a stop at the end of the driveway, they both clambered from the car.  
  
Inuyasha motioned impatiently for her to come to him. Once she picked her way through the snow, he waved a hand at the driveway. "It's dark and the ground's covered with at least two feet of solid snow."  
  
Kagome looked ahead of them at the sparkling powder; it shined brightly in the moonlight. "I noticed," she said dryly.  
  
Inuyasha scowled. "What I meant was," he growled, "I'll walk first and you can step in my footprints."  
  
Kagome shrugged. Sounded good to her.  
  
Inuyasha reached back and clasped one of her hands in his and began to lead the way, Kagome following, staring at their linked hands. What the...?  
  
He tugged her a little as she started to lag behind. "Come on, Kagome, we'll get up there in a minute. You look tired; we can eat some dinner and you can go to bed early."  
  
"Uh...thanks?" Kagome didn't get what he expected her to say.  
  
Apparently, he didn't really expect anything. "Whatever. When we left, Sesshoumaru was already gone. He left early from work to pick up Rin so he'll be home. If we're lucky, he's already fed the Witch and her little sister."  
  
Kagome glared at the back of his head. "Kagura is a perfectly nice, albeit moody, person. Don't call her a witch!"  
  
She became even angrier when she heard him laugh. "Kagome," he looked over his shoulder at her, his purple eyes sparkling, "She helped Naraku track you down!"  
  
Kagome huffed. "She also, if you don't remember, helped you save me."  
  
Inuyasha looked back ahead of him, his breath puffing out in little foggy clouds. "I would have saved you with or without her help."  
  
Kagome just stumbled after him, staring incredulously at his head.  
  
Inuyasha (an extremely relationship constipated man) was holding her hand, leading her through the dark and snow, and telling her that he'd have saved her no matter what...  
  
...Did someone at the office slip something into his coffee again?  
  
Abruptly, Inuyasha stopped a few feet away from the door. He glared at the snow and kicked a mound a little.  
  
"It looks like the wind banked the snow up here," Inuyasha informed her. "How tired are you?"  
  
"I'm fine," Kagome added quickly, not wanting him to suddenly think she was a complete damsel in distress. "I can make it."  
  
"Yeah...I bet you could," Inuyasha shrugged before dropping her hand. He turned back to her and snatched her around the waist, throwing her over one shoulder without too much effort. Then he easily plowed through the wall of snow; "Doesn't matter, now you don't have to climb over it."  
  
Once they were at the doorstep, he let her down and fished the key out of his pocket. Opening up the front door he entered without breaking his stride.  
  
Kagome blinked after him for a bit. What just happened...?  
  
"Are you coming or not?" Inuyasha barked gruffly from the warm house.  
  
Kagome stopped gaping and went through the door; she traded her boots for some slippers and hung up her coat. Clutching onto their dinner, she toddled into the kitchen to find Inuyasha making some warm tea for them both.  
  
'I don't feel tired, but everything doesn't seem to be making much sense. Maybe I really do need to go and get some sleep...Thank Kami tomorrow's Saturday!' Kagome sat down at the table and started to rip open the paper bags to sort out the meals.  
  
Inuyasha brought over two mugs of orange spice tea; the tips of his ears were still red from the cold outside.  
  
He pulled out a chair and collapsed in it. Dragging his food towards him, he dug in happily, devouring the entire thing.  
  
Kagome ate a little slower, still thinking about his strange behavior. Inuyasha wouldn't willingly show as much affection as he had in the last twenty minutes.  
  
Maybe he would to a girlfriend or a wife that he'd been attached to for a long time; Kagome wasn't either, she was a friend and a coworker.  
  
She thought back to when they were in the car on their way home. Inuyasha had asked her about their relationship. He sounded like he was seriously thinking about dating her.  
  
Kagome, sadly, didn't discourage his thoughts any by hugging him.  
  
She mentally groaned; 'I can't believe I did that! Inuyasha probably thinks that I'm emotionally unstable and he needs to be nice to me so I don't turn on him and rip him to shreds...'  
  
Kag entertained the thought of her slicing him to ribbons for awhile...  
  
Knowing him and his odd moods, Kagome decided that once she'd gone to sleep and woken up the next morning, he'd (hopefully) be back to normal.  
  
Taking a last bite of her meal, Kagome laid down her chopsticks and smiled at Inuyasha apologetically.  
  
"You know what? You're right, I guess I am pretty tired. It was a really weird day. I'm going to head to sleep; do you mind cleaning up?" Kagome looked at the take out box covered table.  
  
He shrugged and continued to gobble down his food. "Keh. G'night Kagome, don't worry about it."  
  
"Thanks," Kagome told him sincerely and left the room, heading towards her bed.  
  
Sleep sounded pretty good to her right about then...  
  
...She would forget about the boys' disappearance, it would dull the pain of being without them, and it might even fix Inuyasha's weird acts.  
  
Not that she didn't enjoy said acts...  
  
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In the morning Kagome toddled down the stairs and made her way to the kitchen.  
  
'Maybe 'Yash's back to normal,' Kagome mentally wondered.  
  
He'd been acting strange the night before. He had really seemed to try to be nice to her and had kept a lot of physical contact with her. Even after Kagome had been so aloof and moody the past week...  
  
Something told her that he wasn't acting so strongly about his feelings for her just because Souta and Shippou were gone.  
  
Kagome thought back to the Saturday the week before, before she'd first gotten news that the boys were gone. She'd enjoyed waking up in his arms so much that morning!  
  
When her mind had come around and realized what had made her so happy about the situation, it pained her that she'd liked it so much. Her and Inuyasha? For one, they were friends. For another, Inuyasha had never straight out admitted that he wanted to see her a more than that.  
  
Thirdly: What if once she started to date him, he turned out to be a bad person? Naraku had seemed so sweet at first and look at where that had gotten her...  
  
Kagome sighed. It was useless; she just didn't get it.  
  
She'd admit, grudgingly, that Inuyasha did seem to look at her a little differently then he did with (for example) Sango. He looked at Kagome like she could be more than just his friend...  
  
'Oh come off it,' she scolded herself, 'Inuyasha is just naturally a cocky, arrogant playboy! He doesn't seriously mean anything in his advances. And even if he did, he'd probably try harder.'  
  
...  
  
Yeah, that conclusion would have to do...for now.  
  
Back to the present...Kagome heard some noises in the kitchen. Someone was clattering around pretty loudly for a Saturday morning. So the person was being inconsiderate; meaning it was more than likely Inuyasha.  
  
"Inuyasha?" she called as she entered through the doorway attached to the hallway. "Whacha' doin'?"  
  
Inuyasha didn't answer.  
  
In fact, as Kagome soon saw, he couldn't answer.  
  
The last time the black haired beauty had checked, it was pretty hard to answer questions with a knife through your throat.  
  
"Oh, my God!" she shrieked, leaping back in horror.  
  
Blood...everywhere, blood was there. Splattered on the walls, dripping towards the kitchen floor, even the ceiling sported specks of it.  
  
Kagome swallowed disgustedly as she eyed the large bladed chef knife that had done the deed.  
  
"No," she whispered. Who'd done it? Did those bastards that took the boys kill him? Or...did he do it himself?  
  
No, she wouldn't believe that.  
  
"Inuyasha?" she whispered again, edging forward. She waited for him to answer, to just jump up and tell it had all been a joke. "Inuyasha, please..."  
  
Kagome reached out a trembling hand and shook his shoulder gently. Looking at her own fingertips, she saw his blood there too...  
  
"Oh, my God...no....No!"  
  
"Inuyasha!" she screamed. This was just too much! Why did he have to get killed because of her mistakes? Because of her attraction to trouble?  
  
"Inuyasha, no, no, no, please wake up! Inuyasha!" Kagome could feel the tears flooding down her cheeks.  
  
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"Kagome! Kagome, wake up. Come on!"  
  
"No, Inuyasha. No, no!"  
  
"Kagome, it's ok, I'm right here," Inuyasha shook her even more frantically. What the hell was going on? Damn...Kagome was having another nightmare. Her flailing body and harsh whispers had woken him enough to come and see what was wrong.  
  
"Inuyasha," she sobbed, tears slipping through her tightly closed, silky lashes.  
  
"Kagome!" Inuyasha stared down at her. What was he supposed to do? What was so wrong in her nightmare that she was so scared?  
  
Finally, her stormy orbs snapped open. She panted wildly as she looked around her dark room. They landed on the wide-eyed Inuyasha and she burst into frantic tears.  
  
"Inuyasha! You were dead. Oh, my God. You were dead! And there was blood, a lot of blood. It was everywhere...you were dead," she babbled, still trying to settle her breathing.  
  
Inuyasha looked around; he wanted something obvious in the room to tell him how to fix the problem.  
  
Finally giving up the hope that the armchair in the corner or the alarm clock would help him; he turned back to the young woman.  
  
"Kagome, I'm alive. I'm right here, it's okay," He leaned forward and hugged her.  
  
Kagome continued to sniffle as her arms tangled around his neck, squeezing him hard as if to make sure he was real.  
  
"Shh," Inuyasha whispered as he pulled her into his lap, cuddling her to his chest. "It's ok. I'm right here."  
  
The wisps of Kagome's nightmare that were still floating around started to disappear as he rocked her back and forth. Kagome struggled to get her breathing under control as she reminded herself profusely that the dream was just that- a dream.  
  
"You're not dead?" she asked timidly, feeling beyond childish that she was 21 and still having nightmares.  
  
"I'm not dead," Inuyasha agreed as he buried his face in her hair. "You really need to learn to get over these nightmares..." he told her.  
  
Kagome buried her face into his chest; "I know. I'm sorry."  
  
"I don't mind," he admitted. And he didn't...  
  
"Hm," Kagome hummed. Her heartbeat started to slow back down to normal.  
  
"Want to talk about it?" Inuyasha asked, still hugging her to him.  
  
"I guess...it was morning, and I was going downstairs. It seemed so real. I was thinking about...things, and I got to the kitchen. And you were there," Kagome told him.  
  
'That explains why she said my name in her sleep...she dreams about me?' "Go on."  
  
"Well...there was so much blood," Kagome mumbled.  
  
'That sounds familiar,' Inuyasha thought. Three months before, when Kagome had been passed out from being sick, she'd talked about a lot of blood. That time it was the blood of the Thunder Brothers, the two men Naraku had hired to steal the Shikon no Tama. This time...  
  
"It was your blood," Kagome whispered. "You were dead."  
  
"I gathered that much," Inuyasha grumbled. "How'd I die?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Someone...they, well, there was a butcher knife in your throat."  
  
Inuyasha winced. When he left the world, he didn't want to go like that. "Oh."  
  
Kagome shifted, reminding him that she was still curled up against him. "So...you're not dead, right?" she asked again slowly.  
  
"I hope not," he muttered. "No, I'm not dead. I'm fine, you're fine, Sesshoumaru upstairs is fine."  
  
Kagome laughed at that. Granted, it was a little strained. She thought about her situation. The Saturday before, she'd waken up in his arms that time too.  
  
It wasn't that bad, she decided. Maybe, just maybe, she could let it happen when it happened and analyze it later?  
  
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---  
  
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Kagura eyed her friend and Inuyasha warily a few hours later as they sat down in the kitchen.  
  
Kagome kept giving the room weird glances like she expected a corpse to pop out of nowhere, or a maniac with a knife to lunge at her.  
  
Also, Kagura's guestroom was roughly just above Kagome's room and she'd heard voices somewhere around the neighborhood of three in the morning.  
  
"Sleep well?" The scarlet orbed woman asked idly.  
  
Kagome gave a small shiver as Inuyasha glared at his guest accusingly. "Just fine," he bit out.  
  
Kagura smirked at him and the two held a glaring contest for a spell. "Good to hear," she finally drawled.  
  
"Hm," Kagome hummed. "You?"  
  
Kagura shrugged elegantly, "Fine, I suppose."  
  
"That's good," Kagome told her friend with a small smile as she buttered her toast.  
  
Kagura couldn't take it any longer. "Are you okay, Kagome-san? You seem a bit...shaken."  
  
Kagome swallowed; "I'm fine. I'm just...tired. It was cold last night and I didn't sleep deeply," she replied. 'Although, it wasn't cold in Inuyasha's arms...'  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that," Kagura stated while looking between the two. Was there something going on that she didn't know about?  
  
"Good Morning," Sesshoumaru swept into the room and sat down at the table. Kagura was distracted from her thoughts as she spent the rest of brunch glaring at the newest arrival.  
  
Kagome looked between her elder boss and Naraku's ex-secretary. 'Kagura and Sesshoumaru. That would be very...interesting.'  
  
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---  
  
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"Miroku, let go!"  
  
"But Sango, dearest, you're just going to-."  
  
"No! Kagome is my friend and I'm going to call her if I damn well feel like it!" Sango grunted as she stretched toward the phone, dragging her boyfriend behind her. Miroku's arms were currently wrapped around Sango's waist while he tried to pry her away...  
  
...He had forgotten that Sango was stronger than he'd like to admit his girlfriend was.  
  
With one last lunge, she triumphantly snatched the phone.  
  
Miroku continued to nag in the background [something about how most sane people, Kagome included, liked to spend Saturdays mornings sleeping] while Sango punched in Inuyasha's number.  
  
"Youkai residence," a smooth voice answered.  
  
"Hello, Kagura-san, is Kagome around?" Sango waited patiently while the requested person found her way to the phone. "Hey Kag-chan!"  
  
"Oh, hi Sango-chan," Kagome greeted her friend.  
  
Sango remembered the last time she called Kagome during a Saturday morning. "Are you doing ok?" The brunette's voice was sympathetic and concerned.  
  
Kagome sighed. "Besides some nightmares, yeah, I guess," she mumbled into the phone. Sango got the hint that there were some people in the kitchen with her that the ocean-eyed girl didn't want to overhear.  
  
Sango winced. It seemed that a way Kagome's body dealt with stress was for her to have severe nightmares. "Are they real bad?"  
  
Kagome laughed this time. "I seem to have a fetish for killing 'Yash off in my dreams."  
  
"Again?" Sango gaped. It was true, Inuyasha seemed to be the most killed person in the nightmares.  
  
Kagome shrugged on her side of the conversation even though Sango couldn't see her. "I worked it out. I'm fine. Any news?"  
  
Sango scowled. "No one from the police department has called. In fact, I haven't talked to anyone from there since you punched out the detective."  
  
"Ah, what fond memories," Kagome muttered. "Are we even sure they're doing their jobs? I mean, what if they're just sitting around shoving their faces with donuts?"  
  
"Kagome-chan, don't take this the wrong way but I never pegged you as a stereotypical person. Not all cops eat donuts. I eat donuts and I'm not a cop," Sango pointed out practically.  
  
"I know," Kagome answered shortly. "Hey, I just heard the doorbell. Mind if I cut this talk short?"  
  
"Nah, that's ok," Sango waved it off. "I'll call you later?"  
  
"Yeah, that sounds good." Kagome said her good-byes and hung up. Seeing as everyone else was too busy to answer the doorbell [Inuyasha was eating; Kanna and Rin were eating too; Sesshoumaru and Kagura were reading] she went to go answer it.  
  
Opening the door wide, Kagome's eyes swept over a familiar figure.  
  
Inuyasha heard her shriek from three rooms over at the kitchen table. He winced and started to grumble as he tried to think up the perfect murder.  
  
"KOUGA-KUN!"  
  
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Review please! Ja ne! Fay 


	12. Cake Walk

My screen name has changed from Fay of Faerie to Niamh Tyhara and it is likely to stay like that. My neighbor [a nice boy about 19 years old] from across the street was murdered this morning...I hope his soul rests in peace.  
  
Thank you for the reviews. By the way: my cousin happens to be pregnant for the second time in less than 2 years and I now have a lap top [that won't crash like my old computer] that I've affectionately named Neko...meaning cat in Japanese.  
  
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Disclaimer: Neither I nor my brother, mother, father, 10 aunts, 1 uncle, 2 grandmas, 1 grandpa, or 28 cousins own Inuyasha. I have a big family, don't I?  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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--- Last Chapter ---  
  
"Nah, that's ok," Sango waved it off. "I'll call you later?"  
  
"Yeah, that sounds good." Kagome said her good-byes and hung up. Seeing as everyone else was too busy to answer the doorbell [Inuyasha was eating; Kanna and Rin were eating too; Sesshoumaru and Kagura were reading] she went to go answer it.  
  
Opening the door wide, Kagome's eyes swept over a familiar figure.  
  
Inuyasha heard her shriek from three rooms over at the kitchen table. He winced and started to grumble as he tried to think up the perfect murder.  
  
"KOUGA-KUN!"  
  
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Chapter Twelve: Cake Walk  
  
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Kagome launched herself at her old friend and latched onto Kouga around the middle to give him a backbreaking hug. Kouga gave a deep-throated laugh as he returned it just as eagerly. A few moments later he disentangled Kagome's arms and pulled her away from him by the shoulders. He gave her a penetrating look as Kagome continued to babble, oblivious to his worry.  
  
"Kouga! Wow, I know it's only been a week but it feels like forever since I saw you. So much has happened since then and it seems like a completely different world since I left you and Souta at the restaurant. The news has been so crazy about all the kidnappings you have to know what's been going on," Kagome rambled. Her face was torn from happiness at seeing her friend and sadness at the events of the last week.

He also noticed that she was a little paler than normal, and her blue eyes weren't as bright or cheeful. Her shoulders were a little slumped, and the dark bags from lack of sleep under her eyes were barely covered with make-up. She was still pretty, but he could tell the kidnappings were taking their tole on her, no matter how well she tried to hide it.  
  
"Yeah, Kagome, I know," Kouga said quietly while giving her a reassuring smile. He wrapped a supporting arm around her shoulders and led her to the front door. "Mind if I come in?"  
  
"No, of course not," Kagome said.  
  
Kouga suddenly frowned. "I know you won't, but what about Dog Breath?"  
  
Kagome lost her smile as she remembered the tension between her two guy friends. "Don't worry about him, Kagura-san and I'll keep him in line...hopefully."  
  
"Are there gonna be any sharp pointy objects where ever I see him," Kouga grinned wickedly.  
  
Kagome glowered up at him as they walked down the hall to the kitchen. "No stabbing him!"  
  
She remembered her dream with Inuyasha and the butcher knife, and shivered. She didn't want to go through that again. Real or not.  
  
Not that she thought Kouga would actually kill Inuyasha...maybe...  
  
"Where have you been?" Kagome asked.  
  
Kouga shrugged. "I'm sorry, real sorry, that I haven't called, but the medical school has me all over the place."  
  
"You're almost done?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll graduate earlier than most of my class. Are you coming to watch me?"  
  
Kagome smiled, a small but true one. "I wouldn't miss it for the world!" She declared proudly.  
  
"Good."  
  
"Inuyasha," Kagome called as they entered the kitchen, Kouga's arm still on her shoulders. "Look who came for a visit!"  
  
"Yeah, and hopefully he'll be right back out on his ass soon," Inuyasha grumbled. It was his house! Why was that...that _wolf_ in here? Who in their right minds had a last name meaning wolf, anyway...  
  
"Be nice," Kagome reprehended him, "Kouga-kun is my friend and _I_ invited him in." There was the hidden threat in there that if he kicked Kouga out, Inuyasha would have to deal with her.  
  
"Keh."  
  
Kagome rolled her eyes and waved at her previous seat at the table. "Sit down, Kouga. You thirsty? Hungry?"  
  
"Starving," Kouga announced and grinned happily when Kagome willingly moved around the kitchen to get him something to eat.  
  
As she fumbled with some of the items, she thought some things over.  
  
Kouga had come from Kyoto to visit her even when he should be working hard for his last few months at medical school.  
  
Sango and Miroku had put a short hold on their relationship to help her in anyway they could. Miroku was even pulling his connections from working with the government to get some inside information.  
  
Granted, there wasn't a lot of it.  
  
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru and Rin had once again opened their house to her.  
  
Kagura and Kanna had come out of hiding, when the police could still be looking for them, just to be with Kagome.  
  
Ayame, Hojo, and Nobunaga at work had taken some of her projects so she didn't have so much to worry about.  
  
Bankotsu, the new client, had helped in a way too. His company's business distracted her.  
  
All these people were working so hard to keep her life running smoothly. To make sure she wasn't going to become depressed or have a nervous breakdown. They were acting so normal about everything, even when things where nothing _but_ normal, and that kept her from remembering how bad everything was.  
  
'Easy as a cakewalk,' Kagome thought. 'With friends like these, I could live my entire life in a sheltered, perfect little world where they'd never let anything bad come in. But...I'd give it up just to hug Souta and Shippou again.'  
  
Conversation at the kitchen table lulled after Kouga was introduced to the people he didn't really know.  
  
Kagome suddenly turned around from the counter and gave them all a grin.  
  
"So...Inuyasha, how's Yura?" She asked to change the subject.  
  
Well...  
  
...It worked.  
  
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---  
  
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Bankotsu stared grimly at the wall opposite his desk. His office was a small and dark room on the top floor of the warehouse where all the kidnapped children were staying.  
  
His plan was working.  
  
He wouldn't technically call his little organization a sweatshop. Just a cheap labor camp. With the 112 children he'd abducted from homes all over Japan, he had his own team of workers.  
  
They worked all day and night to produce clothes for him to sell. The guards made sure that all the products were in great condition.  
  
Without worrying about paying his workers (since when did kids need to get paid?) he could spend more on supplies, making sure all the clothes made at the warehouse were of good quality.  
  
So good clothes were made without too much money going into it. Which is why he could afford to sell all the products for cheap prices.  
  
Bankotsu and his six partners had a nice little operation running. No one suspected a thing.  
  
Not even Kagome Higurashi. A woman who worked in the business world and knew facts about things like the back of her hand. It was amazing how she didn't seem to figure out that great clothes for low prices seemed like a sketchy idea. Especially when it was ran by a businessman who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  
  
'However,' Bankotsu mused, 'Although the clothing company is going well, my plan isn't done yet.'  
  
He'd carried out the first half of the plan.  
  
He'd kidnapped children, worked them, and then used what they made for money. It was like a backup plan. If the other half of what he was planning didn't follow through, he could always fall back on the money made by selling clothes.  
  
But the man didn't think his plan could fail.  
  
"It's almost time," Bankotsu murmured out loud, "To start the next step."  
  
He got up from his desk and strode over to one of the walls to look out the small window. Instead of looking outside, it opened out into the factory.  
  
Bankotsu scanned the area where the children were sewing for one particular face. And then he saw him.  
  
"Souta, my friend," his mahogany eyes narrowed, "You're going to help me get what I want."  
  
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---  
  
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"Yura?" Inuyasha sputtered. "Where the hell did that come from?" He yelped.  
  
Kagome blinked back at him innocently before shrugging. "I haven't seen her since I first started working for you. You know...we got along pretty well."  
  
Inuyasha scowled. "That's what I don't like."  
  
Kagome went back to cutting up some food for Kouga. "What? Afraid she'll tell me more embarrassing stories about you? Her being your ex-girlfriend has its advantages."  
  
"Yeah...stories," Inuyasha muttered. 'More like she'll implant the idea into your head that you should never date me! Yura is an evil little witch...'  
  
Kagome decided to change the subject again. "What do you think about Bankotsu and his company?"  
  
Inuyasha blinked while his mind tried to wrap around the new topic. Sesshoumaru smoothly answered, "I think his business will help the company."  
  
"Bankotsu and his company?" Kouga parroted, not knowing what they were talking about.  
  
Kagome set down a plate in front of the brunette. "Yeah," she told him, "Bankotsu Tsurugi is a man that just signed onto the company I work for. I'm going to help him advertise his clothing line. Good quality clothes for some pretty cheap prices," she explained.  
  
"Oh," Kouga nodded.  
  
Kagura frowned. "That sounds odd, you know? I've been shopping all around the world and most stores have bad clothes for low prices, or good clothes for expensive amounts. Maybe the clothes aren't that good. They'll probably fall apart after you wash them or something."  
  
Sesshoumaru nodded. He finally found something to agree about with this red- eyed woman. "True. I though the same thing, but I looked at the clothes myself. They don't seem to be of bad quality."  
  
Kagura glared at him, not that happy with the smooth businessman.  
  
Kagome looked between them, thinking about what they said. "You know what?" she decided. "You two just can't trust anybody. Bankotsu's a nice guy and I saw the clothes too, they're good. Maybe he doesn't sell them for a lot of money because he's already rich and doesn't need it."  
  
Inuyasha scowled. "I don't like him."  
  
Kagome swatted at his arm. "You don't like any men I know."  
  
"Feh," Inuyasha scoffed. "I don't like Bankotsu, not because he's a guy, but because he seems too perfect. Jackass. He's probably this horrible person who covers it up. Like most businessmen."  
  
The rest of the people at the breakfast table looked at him seriously and thought over what Inuyasha said.  
  
Kagome finally rolled her eyes. "You're just paranoid...anyone want any more tea?"  
  
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---  
  
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Bankotsu watched Souta work on one of the large machines. The small boy worked all day since he took over Shippou's work.  
  
'He's loyal,' Bankotsu mused.  
  
Most people thought that the kidnappings were done at random. The only coincidences in all 112 cases were the ages.  
  
But the police were wrong.  
  
True, most of the cases were done at random. Bankotsu and his partners needed able-bodied kids to work and weren't too picky about it.  
  
Two cases, however, were chosen.  
  
Souta and Shippou.  
  
Unlike the other children, Bankotsu needed these for his second half of his plan. He could do without them making clothes if they were able to get him what he wanted.  
  
Sadly, the little boys had no clue they were being used.  
  
Bankotsu suddenly scowled. His partners didn't think he could pull it off. They didn't think he could use Souta and Shippou to get what they all wanted.  
  
But he would prove them wrong. And if they continued to disbelieve in his abilities...Bankotsu would just have to dispose of them.  
  
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---  
  
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Kagome watched tiredly as Inuyasha and Kouga continued to argue. Everyone else had already gotten up and left to do whatever they did on Saturdays to leave Kagome acting as referee.  
  
'Inuyasha is such a moron!' Kagome wailed mentally. Why couldn't that idiot see that Kouga was only her friend? Sheesh, Inuyasha was just an arrogant jerk.  
  
A protective, jealous arrogant jerk.  
  
But whatever.  
  
Kagome groaned as another round of insults started. The two men seemed to find 'Dog Breath' and 'Wimpy Wolf' their favorites.  
  
Kagome rolled her eyes. 'Dog Breath' and 'Wimpy Wolf' were just so...so...well, for lack of a better word, lame! Couldn't two fully grown males come up with better ones?  
  
'Let's see...Kouga calls Inuyasha dog breath because inu means dog. Inuyasha on the other hand calls Kouga wimpy wolf because Ookami, Kouga's last name, means wolf...'  
  
They're both technically canines so why the hell couldn't they get along???  
  
"That's it!" Kagome snapped. "Kouga," she turned to the brown haired man, "Would you go for a walk with me?"  
  
Inuyasha spluttered, offended, as Kouga happily accepted her outstretched hand. Out in the hallway Kagome whistled for Miko, the Youkai family's dog, to go with them.  
  
'What the hell?!' Inuyasha mentally screamed. He was ditched! Again!  
  
'Damn it...'  
  
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Kouga observed quietly as Kagome picked a sprig of some kind of flower from the barren garden.  
  
She toddled back to him, Miko at her heels, and held the small flowers out to him. When he accepted it, Kagome attended to her scarf, which was loose and trailing over her coat. After it was tightened, they started across the snow again, side by side.  
  
"I thought flowers didn't bloom in the dead of winter," Kouga said idly.  
  
"That's jasmine," Kagome informed her old time friend. "It blooms all year round."  
  
"Hn," Kouga grunted and tucked the flower into his pocket.  
  
They continued to stroll down the path. Miko ran ahead of them and plowed through the snow. In the really deep parts the dog would leap and bound around, sending sprays of the white powder everywhere.  
  
Kagome laughed as the Akita tried to catch a white rabbit as it raced around the grounds that surrounded Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's house.  
  
Kouga listened to the delighted giggle and decided it was a real one, unlike most of her laughter throughout the morning.  
  
With her, he knew, you could never know if she was being truthful with her feelings.  
  
Ever since he'd known her, since middle school when he moved to Kyoto, Kouga had noticed something about Kagome.  
  
No matter what she was feeling, she always tried to put up a happy and brave front. She had it down to a talent, her smiles and laughs always sounded real. Why?  
  
Because she didn't want to worry anyone. She would do anything in her power to make sure everyone around her was happy and content, and didn't worry about herself until everyone else was ok.  
  
Her entire attitude about life was to make everyone else comfortable.  
  
Sometimes, it worried Kouga. She needed to learn how to take care of herself as well.  
  
When Naraku had first come into the picture, all those years ago, Kouga had almost been glad. At first, Naraku took care of Kagome, kept her happy.  
  
Naraku, Kouga had thought, would take care of Kagome when she took care of everyone else.  
  
Then Kouga had met Naraku and had seen how fake the man was. He'd watched as Kagome was abused and harmed. And, he decided then, when Kagome got out of it, he'd help her find Mr. Right.  
  
He really only did care that Kagome was happy.  
  
Of course...then the stormy eyed girl had met Inuyasha.  
  
Kagome may have thought that Inu was great, but Kouga hated him. It wasn't that he thought Inuyasha couldn't take care of Kagome, it was that he _wouldn't _take care of her. Inuyasha was naturally a conceited, arrogant, egotistical, self-centered jerk.  
  
Kagome deserved more than that.  
  
"Kouga!" her voice suddenly broke through his thoughts. "Look at that!" she bubbled, "Look!" Her mitten clad hand pointed a little off the side of the path at a small ditch.  
  
Kouga grinned when he saw a small litter of kittens. Kagome ran forward and began to coo over them.  
  
"We have to find their mother and take them all into the house! They'll freeze!" she began to look around. A few minutes later, Kouga had helped her round up the mother cat and all six babies.  
  
Trooping back to the house, a cat and three kittens in his arms, Kouga glanced out of the corner of his eye.  
  
Yes...  
  
...Kagome deserved the best.  
  
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---  
  
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Inuyasha sniffed. "I hate cats."  
  
Kagome stood directly across from him, her fists on her hips. Inuyasha had his classic pose of his arms crossed in defiance. "I love cats."  
  
Inuyasha glared at her. "Doesn't matter. My house. I hate cats. They're not staying."  
  
"Well, then," Kagome huffed. "They're my cats and if they can't stay here, than I can't either. I'll see if I can bunk with Sango and Miroku. If that doesn't work, I can always move back home."  
  
Inuyasha scowled at her, his eyes narrowed. "You're not staying in that apartment all by yourself."  
  
"I'm old enough to take care of myself, Inuyasha," Kagome snapped.  
  
Kouga marveled at how Inuyasha seemed to always be able to bring Kagome out of her shell. The wall that she put up where she was only smiles and comfort instead of the tough woman she really was.  
  
"Actually, she wouldn't have to be alone," Kouga stepped between the two. "I could stay with her and the cats at her apartment."  
  
"No!" Inuyasha growled. He didn't like that idea.  
  
"Well, you already hate me being here," Kagura drawled from her position in a nearby chair. "Kanna and I could stay with Kagome."  
  
Inuyasha realized he was losing the battle...fast. It was either let cats stay in his doggy home and keep Kagome there, or have the cats gone...along with Kagome. Amazingly, he wasn't stupid. He knew he liked Kagome's company and wouldn't get rid of it willingly.  
  
"But," his mind searched for a good argument to that. All it presented with him was joy at the thought of getting rid of Kagura too. "It would be hell moving all your stuff out again!"  
  
He smirked, smug with the fact that he had come up with a good retort.  
  
Kagome blinked back at him before shrugging. "What stuff? All I brought here was a suitcase-,"  
  
"Four suitcases."  
  
"-Of clothes. That won't be that hard to pack," Kagome finished, despite Inuyasha's rude interruption.  
  
'Crap. She has a point,' Inu's mind searched again for something to say.  
  
Funnily enough, Kagura was the one to save him.  
  
"Drat," she scowled, "My brother doesn't allow pets in his apartment building. And I think 7 cats would count as pets."  
  
"But he's your brother!" Kagome protested, frowning at Inuyasha's triumphant smirk. "He owns my apartment building, so can't you just ask him to let me have them there?"  
  
Kagura shook her head. "Sorry. Even so, don't you think you don't have enough room? I mean..._seven_ cats!"  
  
"Make that eight," Sesshoumaru stepped into the room, shaking his head to get rid of the snow in his hair. Rin entered behind him, grinning madly, with another kitten in her hands.  
  
Kagome raced over and she and the little girl cooed over the new arrival.  
  
Sesshoumaru looked at them before turning back to his brother. "Inuyasha...Rin likes the kittens. I want them to stay."  
  
"But-!"  
  
"My house," Sesshoumaru's voice had an edge to it. "They're staying."  
  
"...Feh," Inuyasha collapsed into a couch, defeated.  
  
At least Kagome was staying...  
  
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Please review! Remember to look for 'Niamh Tyhara' and not 'Fay of Faerie' any more! Ja ne!


	13. And So It Goes

Sorry I've taken so long with this. My life has been…well, a little off since the murder across the street. Plus I have the worst sense of priorities…heh…  
  
Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate all the support.  
  
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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor the song I used by Billy Joel.  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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Chapter Thirteen: And So It Goes  
  
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The weather.   
  
Yes, that's what was on Kagome's mind at the moment. The weather. It was so…surprising? Instead of being mild, like the past winters, the snow was horrible. This was the first night that they didn't even have flurries.  
  
Kagome sighed. She'd just have to wait for January, and then the weather should calm down. By then it would just be bitterly cold, but snow wasn't likely to fall.   
  
Not that she hated snow. But after a few months of seeing nothing but dirty white, and slush, a clear landscape would be nice. Not to mention that as soon as spring came, her birthday would be closer.   
  
Twenty two years old. Another thing that was on her mind. Would her twenty second year of life be better than her twenty first?  
  
Naraku had died during that year. She didn't exactly sympathize with him, though; it's not like she wished him back to life. But still, no one deserved to die the way he did. He fell off the roof of a 40 story building for hell's sake!  
  
Ouch.  
  
But still, if it hadn't been for Naraku, she'd never have met Sango. Or Miroku. She wouldn't have met Inuyasha either.  
  
Inuyasha. The third thing occupying her mind.  
  
Their relationship was so…so…weird. Since the first time they met each other, at his own parade, they'd argued. They still argued. Then again, he also watched over her and protected her. He gave her a job, a home, and a distraction from her problems. He took over the role of a big brother for the boys.  
  
The boys. The final thing in her mind.  
  
Where were they? Were they safe? Hurt? …Dead? Kagome didn't think so. Ever since she was a little girl, growing up on the shrine with her odd little family, she'd had this kind of intuition. It was like she could always tell what was going on if she looked deep inside herself.  
  
Kagome snorted. What a load of Poppy Cock.  
  
"Intuition, my ass," she grumbled under her breath. The same 'intuition' that was now telling her that the boys were alive didn't warn her that they would be taken. Seriously, come off it. If she had this inner sense that she'd always believed in, wouldn't she have known something bad would happen the last time she saw Souta?  
  
Kagome decided it was time to change topics again…  
  
…back to the weather. Oh joy.  
  
'It really is pretty,' Kagome mused as she looked out the window. It was a large bay window in one of the studies, the chair where she was currently sitting, a nice large leather one, faced it. It was almost two in the morning, the moon was almost full, and the moonlight reflected off the fresh snow.  
  
The air smelled of cigar smoke, and peppermint. It was comforting, and dull enough to just tickle the senses. The room was small, or as small as you could get in Inuyasha's house, and rather cozy. Bookshelves covered three of the four walls, all except the one with the window, and they were covered in thick volumes. The books were worn with scrawled writing over the spine.   
  
Besides the chair where the black haired beauty was curled up, was a large carved desk. Papers, yellowed with age, were scattered over the top along with more books and pens.   
  
Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.  
  
It was Kagome's favorite room in the entire house. It was tucked away and no one seemed to know of it.  
  
Inuyasha had found her one morning, a few weeks before, standing in the room and enjoying the view. It was then that he told her that this room had once belonged to his father, the late Inutaisho. It was his personal study, and no one was allowed in it.  
  
After much grief on Kagome's part for trespassing, Inuyasha had merely smirked and told her she could come in it whenever she damn well felt like it. Inutaisho was gone and the study needed a new owner. She fit the part, he'd said.  
  
For some reason or another, Kagome seemed to find herself wandering in here at least once a night. She had horrible sleeping habits, but the room comforted her.  
  
So here she was, cuddled into the worn leather chair in the dark, thinking.   
  
She wasn't alone.  
  
In her lap, curled up into a small ball, was one of the seven baby kittens. This one was the smallest, the runt of the litter. It was tiny! Kagome could hold it in her two hands cupped while it's brothers and sisters were at least twice the size.  
  
The sweet little thing was almost entirely white, except for one black ear. Kagome had become attached to it as soon as she got a look at the cat. It was a baby girl.  
  
Of course there was someone other than the cat there too. But this person Kagome didn't know about.  
  
Inuyasha stood outside the door and looked in, leaning comfortably against the wall. He'd come every once in awhile during the night to check up on Kagome, and he always knew were to find her.   
  
The young woman got tired of thinking about the weather, and then found her thoughts on something slightly random. Her Aunt Mai.  
  
Mai was an older woman, her short black hair peppered with gray, her brown eyes dulled with age. But she was still beautiful, no matter how old she was.   
  
Kagome had been fascinated with her since she was a little girl. Mai was her father's sister. The siblings had shared the same smile, and after Kagome's father died, the little girl enjoyed staying with Mai.  
  
It wasn't until Kagome was older that she realized that Mai wasn't married.   
  
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_"Why?" A small girl, perhaps nine or ten, asked. She was sitting in her beloved aunt's lap while both sipped at their lemonade trying to fight away the hot summer day.  
  
"Because your aunt is an old woman, too old for love," Aunt Mai would reply, a twinkle in her chocolate eyes.   
  
"Oh, Aunt Mai!" The young Kagome giggled, wiggling around in the older woman's lap. "You're never too old for love!" She announced, her own ocean eyes sparkling with an inner light. The eyes she'd gotten from her father.  
  
Then Aunt Mai smiled; it was a smile that held a secret. "You're right, as always Little Kag-chan, but it's too late for **me** to love."  
  
Kagome's pouted, her eyes crossing in confusion. "Aunty Mai! Don't say that!"  
  
Then the older woman said something that made all young children cringe. "You're too young to understand, Kagome-chan."  
  
The little girl stuck her chin out in defiance. "Mama said that when Daddy went away, and I understood then! I'm ten, I can understand." She looked pleadingly up at the elder female.  
  
Aunt Mai caved. She always caved. Sighing at her own weak will, she told Kagome something that no one knew. Except for her little brother of course, Kagome's father. "Alright…Can you keep it a secret?"  
  
"Of course!" Kag stated, indigently.   
  
Mai laughed. "I was in love once…" her voice trailed off, her eyes unfocused as she gazed out into the distance at something only she could see.  
  
"Really?"  
  
The elder woman laughed. "Yes, really. His name was Rei Taiyou. He was so sweet, a little gruff maybe, but sweet."  
  
Kagome giggled. "Gruff, huh? Sounds nice…I guess."  
  
Mai laughed some more. "It was…" she breathed. "That was about thirty years ago, when I was almost twenty three."  
  
Kagome's stormy eyes widened, "You were younger than Mama once?"  
  
Brown eyes rolled. "That was a long time ago, your mama would have been…oh…only five years old then."  
  
The niece hummed in understanding, but kept silent so her aunt could go on.  
  
"He asked me to marry him."  
  
Now Kagome couldn't keep so quiet. "But if he did, where is he?! Did you say no, and that's why he isn't here anymore?"  
  
"…I said yes, Kagome-chan, and we got married."  
  
Kag's face scrunched up in concentration. If that Rei guy married her aunt, wouldn't he be her uncle? Where was he then?  
  
Mai's eyes, previously dreamy and happy, became somber. "That's why I can't love or marry any more, Rei still has my heart."  
  
Kagome didn't understand.   
  
Mai shook herself of her memories and looked down at her baby girl. "Kagome-chan…Rei is where your father is." She couldn't find herself to come right out and say that the love of her life had died. Kagome was still struggling over her father's death.  
  
"Oh," Kagome became quiet. "So you can't love anyone cause Rei stole your heart?" she asked finally.  
  
Mai laughed again at that. She liked that explanation. "Yes, Rei stole my heart and now I can't give it to anyone else."  
  
Kagome grinned, the serious topic beginning to fade away. "Okay," she chirped. She drained the rest of her lemonade through her straw and looked around at the shrine. It was silent today.  
  
That was when Mai started to hum, and soon the humming turned into singing.   
  
Kagome never forgot that song.  
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Kagome laughed silently. That had been so long ago. She hadn't really understood then that Rei had died and wouldn't come back, which had shattered her aunt's heart. Mai had loved her husband to the fullest and never could bring herself to try and fall in love again.  
  
Last year, Kagome had gone to Mai's funeral. Her loving aunt had died in her sleep at the age of 62 because of heart complications.   
  
The ebony haired woman believed the complication had been a broken heart.  
  
And that song still reverberated in her head. She still remember every word even after so long; like Aunt Mai, it seemed to hold a special meaning for her.  
  
That was when Kagome began to hum.  
  
Inuyasha, just outside the door, had been about to leave, but stopped to listen. Kagome wasn't the best singer, but she had a sweet voice. One that was simple, soft, and full of love.  
  
The kind that a mother uses to sing her children to sleep with a lullaby.  
  
"**_In every heart there is a room,  
  
A sanctuary safe and strong,  
  
To heal the wounds from lovers past,  
  
Until a new one comes along_**." Kagome stroked the top of the kitten's head as she sang softly. She would always love and miss her aunt. The woman who had taught her so many things, and had kept the memory of her father alive even after his death. Kagome had been told once that she had both of their smiles.  
  
It made her proud.  
  
"**_I spoke to you in cautious tones,  
  
You answered me with no pretense.  
  
And still I feel I said too much,  
  
My silence is my self defense_**.  
  
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"**_And every time I've held a rose,  
  
It seems I only felt the thorns.  
  
And so it goes, and so it goes,  
  
And so will you soon I suppose_**," The verses seemed to hold a secret, just like Aunt Mai's smile.   
  
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"**_But if my silence made you leave,  
  
Then that would be my worst mistake,  
  
So I will share this room with you,  
  
And you can have this heart to break_**." Inuyasha let a wry grin cross his face.   
  
Kagome sang like his mother had sung. They had the same love and heart in their voices. He missed his mother, she'd died when he was so young and he remembered so little about her.  
  
Kagome had this way of stirring the protective feelings inside of him that he'd felt for his mother. They were so much alike, that he just couldn't bring himself to see her hurt.  
  
It almost made him sad to see her so broken right now. When she was alone she didn't wear any illusions to keep people thinking she was okay. She looked how she felt.  
  
Worn. Tired. Sad. Angry. Broken.  
  
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"**_And this is why my eyes are closed,  
  
It's just as well for all I've seen,  
  
And so it goes, and so it goes,  
  
And you're the only one who knows_**." Kagome was so tired of all the bad things in her life. Didn't she deserve a break for once?  
  
Why did life just have to keep throwing her trials?  
  
Fate sucked.  
  
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"**_So I would choose to be with you,  
  
That's if the choice were mine to make.  
  
But you can make decisions too,  
  
And you can have this heart to break_**," The lyrics almost had a poetic ring to them. They rhymed, sure, but they were also so full of feelings and heart.  
  
They were beautiful and haunting. And so very true…  
  
"**_And so it goes, and so it goes,  
  
And you're the only one who knows_**," Kagome finished slowly, the air felt heavy around her. Looking up from the kitten's ears, she almost expected to see Aunt Mai there and smiling at her.  
  
Her father's smile.  
  
A few years ago, Kagome had the conclusion that Rei was the one who knew of Mai's pains, and that she was singing the song about him. And to him…  
  
It seemed Aunt Mai had known that, even though he was dead, Rei was still there to listen to her.  
  
'Then who is the one that has my heart in his hands?' Kagome thought, bemused.   
  
"Nice song," A voice drawled from the doorway.  
  
Kagome jumped, and turned a wary look to Inuyasha. "Don't do that," she hissed, the sad mood of before forgotten. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"  
  
Inuyasha smirked and walked in, sitting on the arm of the chair. Kagome was so small, and took up so little room, he probably could have sat next her in the large chair if he'd wanted.   
  
"It seems very fit-" he began, but Kagome cut him off.  
  
"Tsume."  
  
Inuyasha bit off what he was going to say and blinked back at her. "Huh?" What did his middle name have to do with this?  
  
Kagome grinned at him and lifted the sleeping kitten from her lap. She gently laid the small body in Inuyasha's hands. He stared dumbly at it. "Her name is Tsume."  
  
"…Really? Why?"  
  
Kagome shrugged and stroked the top of the fury white head. "I don't know…I just though it fit."  
  
Inuyasha glared at the top of her head. "You named a cat after a cat hater's middle name?"  
  
Kagome laughed a little. "Does it matter? I think she likes it…" She murmured at the kitten began to purr contentedly.   
  
Inuyasha sighed in frustration. Kagome was so weird sometimes…  
  
"So…what were you thinking about tonight?" he finally ventured, breaking the comfortable silence.  
  
Kagome stopped the petting and leaned back into the chair, tucking her legs under her. She stared out the window and at the snow. She loved the night…  
  
"Aunt Mai and Rei Taiyou."  
  
Inuyasha stared at her, but she didn't seem to notice. There she went again, making no sense what-so-ever…  
  
"He was the uncle I never knew," she explained simply. "I didn't even hear of him until I was ten…"  
  
"Why? Did he divorce her? Your Aunt Mai?"  
  
A small humorless laugh slipped past her lips. "No. He died."  
  
"Oh…uh…I'm sorry?"  
  
This time the laugh was more of a laugh. "Don't worry about it. He died before I was even born. Aunt Mai died too…"  
  
"Oh."  
  
"We were close. She reminded me of my father," she confided.  
  
"…Really?" Inuyasha scratched at the back of his neck. He wasn't good at this kind of conversation.   
  
Kagome nodded. She didn't care if he cared, she just wanted to say it to someone she didn't mind talking to.   
  
They lapsed into another silence and sat there, looking at the snow outside. Inuyasha jumped when he felt a light weight on his shoulder; looking over a little, he saw it was Kagome's hand as she looked up at him, her blue-gray eyes half lidded.  
  
"It's late, I think I'm going to," she interrupted herself to yawn widely, "go to sleep," she finished.  
  
Inuyasha shrugged, "'Night," he grunted and watched her stumble up from the chair, the kitten safely cradled in one arm. With one final wave, she disappeared from the room, on the way to her bed.  
  
Inuyasha thought about her. Kagome was this lovely creature who had the misfortune to attract every bit of trouble around her…and had firmly attached herself to his arm. Not literally, but still!  
  
She was tough and stubborn, but at the same time weak and…well, pathetic. She wouldn't have survived without her friends, even if she'd refused to admit it. She also had the annoying habit to take care of everyone except herself.  
  
It disgusted [okay…okay, 'worried'] Inuyasha, and she had the nerve to refuse his help! Not that he'd offered it very obviously. He was tired of sticking around and doing nothing to help find the boys. The cops were complete morons, and Inuyasha'd have a better chance at tracking down Souta and Shippou. The police needed to search harder.  
  
Seriously, who in hell could hide over a hundred kids! It's not like you could just dress them up and tell everyone they were dwarves…and be believed anyway.   
  
"Fuck," he cursed, glaring out the window. Inuyasha didn't give a damn about the cops any more, if the boys weren't found he'd just have to go out and get them himself. Damn police…  
  
Now…where would he hide 112 brats?  
  
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---  
  
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Kagome shoved open her bedroom door after she'd put the kitten back with it's brothers and sisters.   
  
Sliding off her slippers and throwing her robe off, she straightened her long nightgown. Pulling her ebony hair back into a messy pony tail, she climbed into bed and slipped under the covers. Snuggling into pillow, another sigh passed her lips.  
  
She didn't exactly like herself at the moment…  
  
Lying in a nice, large, warm bed with clean sheets while her boys could be sleeping in the dirt for all she knew. She'd had a big dinner, not that she'd eaten much, and her boys could be starving.   
  
Kagome flipped over onto her back and glared at the ceiling. That was when the tears came…  
  
She rubbed at her stormy eyes to try and wipe them away, but only managed to make her cheeks raw and red. After sniffling a bit, feeling a little sorry for herself, she started to get angry.   
  
Throwing her hands up, the woman then rolled onto her stomach and screamed into her pillow, making her throat sore too.  
  
How dare she?  
  
Feeling sorry for herself didn't help anything, God damn it! It just made it all worse. Crying wouldn't bring the boys back, pity wouldn't keep them safe. Kagome slammed a fist into her pillow.  
  
Fate forbid anyone ever seeing her like this.  
  
The closest she'd ever come to it was the tantrums she threw as a child. Her mother saw her then.   
  
Kagome set her mouth in a grim line. She only cried like this, pitied herself like this, grew angry with herself like this at night where no one could see her. It wasn't like she was naturally so pathetic, her mind just liked to play tricks on her so late at night, taking advantage of the fact that she never slept well.  
  
Taking advantage of the nightmares that plagued her.  
  
And if she had one more dream where Souta or Inuyasha's head was sliced off she's scream! During the day Kagome could handle things, though.  
  
During the day she had light, and her friends, and…Inuyasha.  
  
Inuyasha. That made her want to scream too.  
  
Bastard had the nerve to make her confused! One moment he's dragging her into an argument, then the next he was holding her well she cried. He'd insult her, but he'd also stay around her. Idiot…couldn't he make up his mind?  
  
Sheesh, you either hated someone, liked them, or fell in love with them. Or at least that's how it's supposed to be; it's supposed to be that simple, that black and white. Was she such a weird person that he couldn't even make up his mind whether to hug her or yell at her?  
  
Rolling her eyes at her side table, she was now curled up in the fetal position, Kagome pictured the lamp as Inuyasha so she could glare at it. It didn't help. Instead of making her angry, it had her blushing.  
  
Feelings. Those didn't make her want to scream. Those made her want to slam something against a wall. Something breakable, preferably.  
  
How did you know which feeling you felt? Was hate so different from love that you could tell? Didn't they both make you heat up, one in anger and one in desire or happiness? How was that so different? Didn't they both make your insides tie themselves in knots? With hate, you made yourself sick with rage. Love made you upset with anticipation.   
  
Was there really all that much of a difference if you really thought about it?  
  
Kagome blanched. Ugh. Right now, if both love and hate made you sick, then she didn't really want either of them.   
  
…another question…  
  
Why the hell couldn't she sleep? She was tired, both her mind and body, yet she couldn't force her lids to stay closed for more than five seconds.   
  
"Wretched world," Kagome hissed upward. The poor ceiling seemed to be getting the onslaught of everything tonight.  
  
Love.  
  
You could love you mother, like she did Mama. You could love your brother and your grandfather, both were great guys. You could love your son, Kagome positively adored Shippou. And the whole being 'in love'…well, okay, so she didn't have an example for that one. Naraku could have, at one point, but that jackass got what he deserved…  
  
Hope he was happy in Hell.  
  
…  
  
"I didn't mean that," Kagome suddenly whispered reverently. As much as she hated herself for it, she'd never wish death on anyone. Even Naraku.  
  
Except maybe the person who took Souta and Shippou. They deserved no less than being shoved off a high cliff.  
  
…  
  
"Didn't mean that either…" Kagome winced. Damn her good nature.  
  
Well…there was one thing for certain. Out of all the feelings she knew?  
  
Confusion was the one she wanted to throttle.  
  
And badly.  
  
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---  
  
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Bankotsu balanced a pencil on his fingers, every once in awhile rotating it to a new position. It was almost 4 in the morning and he had yet to go to sleep. Why?  
  
"I still don't think this is a good idea," one of his business partners, the only one in the room at the moment, hissed. The light from the ceiling fan glinted off of his bald head as Kaijinbo paced the length of the room.  
  
Kaijinbo was not a man who was not in shape. Barely any of his black hair was left and his stomach was far from flat. But eyes glinted with malice…He was definitely one of Bankotsu's least favorites of the six business partners.  
  
Bankotsu grinded his teeth together as he remained seated behind his desk, no matter how much he wanted to get up and strangle his partner. "I don't care what you think, I know that my plan is going to work. I've told you before that I wouldn't screw it up," the younger man ground out.  
  
Kaijinbo never did realize when he was going to far. "You're a young, stupid man who has no idea what the hell he's doing."  
  
…  
  
Bankotsu didn't like to be called stupid. 'Young' and 'man' was ok, but stupid was…well, not.  
  
"That's it," the force of him standing sent his chair toppling to the floor. Kaijinbo stared in horror at Bankotsu, trembling in fear.  
  
"W-what's it?" The balding man croaked.  
  
Furious brown eyes met his own black ones. "If everyone is so sure that I'll fail, then I'll just have to prove that I wont! Get the boys, get Souta and Shippou, and send them up here. NOW!"  
  
Kaijinbo stood there gaping.  
  
"NOW YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!" Bankotsu roared, advancing on the shorter guy. He smirked smugly when Kaijinbo all but scampered from the room to do the boss' bidding.  
  
"Idiot," Bankotsu muttered, returning his chair in the correct position so he could sit down. "As soon as Souta and Shippou get here, I can prove once and for all…"  
  
A few minutes later, three figures stumbled into the room. The first was a scared shitless Kaijinbo.  
  
Another was a tiny boy with auburn hair, his arm was wrapped up and tied up against his chest so that it wouldn't be moved too much. The last was a preteen boy standing in utter defiance. Anything Bankotsu had the nerve to ask Souta could go to hell.  
  
Bankotsu wasn't one to take threats.  
  
"You," he glared at the boys, "Sit down, now."  
  
"I think he thinks he's Tarzan," Souta mumbled, a smirk playing at his lips. "Don't you mean 'You can sit down now' or 'you may sit down now'?"  
  
Bankotsu backhanded him.   
  
Shippou hurried Souta into one of the rickety chairs before the boss' desk. Kaijinbo stood at the door.   
  
Bankotsu ignored his 'business partner' and focused all his attention on Souta and Shippou.   
  
"Tomorrow, one of you two will return home."  
  
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Sorry it's taken me so long, the next update will be way sooner. In less than a week. Why would Bankotsu allow Souta or Shippou to go home? I know, but I bet you don't! Review and Ja ne! N.T. 


	14. Sunday

This chapter is dark were the boys are involved, but slightly silly with the rest of the people, that's just supposed to show you that Kagome doesn't know that her boys are about to do something dangerous.  
  
**_NOTE_**: Evy and I co-wrote a collection of 100 word ficlets called 'Cryptic Endings' and it's posted under Alma Sol, her screen name. They're about could happen around the time Naraku is destroyed, who wrote what should be written in on the chapter title bar. A few are posted and we have 12 written in all. Please check it out!   
  
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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, or anything in this story that you recognize. AKA: McDonalds, Coke, a pick up truck…etc..  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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--- Last Chapter ---  
  
"You," he glared at the boys, "Sit down, now."  
  
"I think he thinks he's Tarzan," Souta mumbled, a smirk playing at his lips. "Don't you mean 'You can sit down now' or 'you may sit down now'?"  
  
Bankotsu backhanded him.   
  
Shippou hurried Souta into one of the rickety chairs before the boss' desk. Kaijinbo stood at the door.   
  
Bankotsu ignored his 'business partner' and focused all his attention on Souta and Shippou.   
  
"Tomorrow, one of you two will return home."  
  
--- End of Last Chapter ---  
  
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Chapter Fourteen: Sunday  
  
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"What's the catch?!" Souta immediately blurted out, eyeing Bankotsu with distrust. Why would this…this…_man_ let one of them go home?  
  
"No catch," Bankotsu said simply, smirking as he leaned back into his chair.  
  
"There has to be a catch," Souta pursed his lips, a habit he learned from his sister, and thought over everything. "Let me guess…one of us goes home, but we're dead when we get there…right? In that case…send me, no one is killing Shippou," the boy snapped, wrapping an arm protectively around his little nephew's shoulders.  
  
The smirk melted into a scowl. Bankotsu leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk so that his nose was inches away from Souta's face. "You stupid little brat," he hissed slowly. "Quit trying to be so tough, whoever goes is not going to be dead when they get there. You'll arrive alive."  
  
Souta snorted and looked away to glare at a wall. Like he'd believe that.  
  
A fist slamming down on the desk made both boys jump and stare at Bankotsu. The man was steaming with rage, his eyes narrowed and his lips set in a frown. "Listen you worthless scum. I'm going to send you home so that your sister learns something. She has something of mine…"  
  
"Kagome wouldn't even deal with you," Souta spat.  
  
"Actually…" Bankotsu's smirk returned full force. "I work with her."  
  
'Liar,' Souta thought, not trusting the man. He didn't even know The Boss' name for crying out loud! At this moment, all he wanted to do was curl up and cry…even if this guy was telling the truth and Souta could go home to Kagome, he wouldn't be able to tell his sister anything helpful. He didn't know where they were so he couldn't tell anyone where the kids were being kept, he didn't even know The Boss' name.  
  
No one had told him.  
  
Then it hit Souta.  
  
If the one going home would live…then he couldn't go. Souta dragged his eyes to Shippou, who was watching him quietly. The red haired boy would have to go back to Kagome and Inuyasha. Souta wouldn't let him stay here any longer. Plus…the gash from the machine was getting worse, now it was infected. The lack of nutritious food had Shippou looking smaller, and paler, than normal.  
  
Swallowing, Souta's deep brown gaze flicked to Bankotsu's. "Fine…but Shippou is going home. Not me. But you have to promise he won't be hurt!"  
  
The Boss smiled. "Of course, I wasn't planning on it. I need Shippou to do me a…favor. That's why I'm letting one of you go. Kagome needs to know something, so all you have to do to make it home safely is to give her a letter."  
  
"So we're your messenger boys?!" Souta screamed, outraged.   
  
Bankotsu ignored the outburst and turned on Shippou. "Now…you, you're going to tell your 'mother' absolutely nothing. You're not going to tell anyone anything or…I'll hurt Souta."  
  
Shippou trembled, but not from fright. He was beyond angry. "You can't threaten us! If you hurt one of us then Kagome-Okaa-san won't give you what you want!"  
  
"No…I'll merely have to find another way to get it. Now, tonight I'm going to give you the letter and you're going to go home and give it to Kagome Higurashi. She'll know what to do. And remember, tell anyone about where we are or who I am and you're 'uncle Souta' will not be making it out so well…"  
  
Shippou clamped his mouth shut and refused to comment on the fact that even if he wanted to, he couldn't tell his adopted mother anything. He knew nothing.  
  
Bankotsu, The Boss, nodded, taking Shippou's silence as acceptance. "Go and say goodbye to Souta now, Shippou, so that I can give you the letter. You'll leave as soon as it's nighttime."  
  
Souta scowled. "But it's not even light out, you called us up here before the sun even came up! I have to work all day!"  
  
"Fine, you both have the day off so that you can say goodbye," Bankotsu then ordered them out of his office. Kaijinbo was left, though. Turning to the sniveling wart of an old man, the leader glared. "You, go and inform everyone that I'm setting the next stage of my plan into action."  
  
Kaijinbo hesitated at the door.  
  
"Are you sure it isn't too soon? Would Kagome Higurashi really give up so much just to have her boys back? I mean…it's only been just over a week, maybe we should keep her waiting longer so she misses the brats more," The balding man proposed.  
  
Bankotsu frowned. "No, it's my idea and I know it's time. Kagome loves these idiot children more than anything, she'll give me what I want to get them back."  
  
Kaijinbo still waited. "But…are you sure she wont' figure out that it's _you _behind everything?"  
  
"She has no clue," Bankotsu sneered. "Now go tell the others or I'll kill you and do it myself!"  
  
This time, the older, weaker man didn't stall.  
  
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---  
  
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Kagome rolled over sleepily in bed and stared up at the ceiling, her mind still in a half asleep daze. All the problems of the previous week were forgotten as she snuggled into the thick blankets, blocking out the winter's cold.  
  
Just as her blue-gray eyes began to drift closed again, her bedroom door banged open.  
  
"Wench! What the fuck are you still in bed for, it's almost 1 in the afternoon!"  
  
Kagome peeked over her comforter to glare at Inuyasha. The man was standing there, his arms folded across his chest, and looking pretty good in jeans and a green sweater. "It's Sunday!" she whined.  
  
"You're point?" he snapped. Why did she get to sleep in when he had to get up and watch over Kanna and Rin?  
  
Kagome switched tactics. "You said it's almost one o'clock? Wow, you're up pretty early. Why don't you go back to bed?"  
  
"Tempting…but hell no. That flee biten wolf dumped cold water on my head and then told me that everyone else was busy so we had to watch the kids for the day."  
  
"Sesshoumaru, Kagura, and Kouga are all gone? Where? What did they have to do?" Kagome sat up groggily and started to try and shake herself out of post sleeping pleasure.  
  
Inuyasha's scowl deepened. "I don't know, but we're stuck with the girls and I refuse to just sit around here all day by myself and watch those stupid brats while you sleep!"  
  
"Call them brats again and I'll-" Kagome's threat was cut short when Rin pushed past her uncle and jumped onto her bed.   
  
"Aunty Kag! Aunty Kag!" The little girl squealed and latched herself around Kagome's neck.   
  
Kagome grinned and ruffled Rin's hair. "Morning, Sweets!"  
  
Rin giggled and continued her rib breaking hug. "Rin gets to play with Aunty Kag now?"   
  
Kagome laughed and wrestled the little girl off of her. "Yes! I bet old Uncle Inu was being grumpy, wasn't he?"  
  
Rin looked up at her role model and blinked innocently. "What does Aunty Kag mean? Uncle Inu is _always_ grumpy!"  
  
Said uncle grunted and stalked from the room, passing Kagura's little sister on the way. "Why don't you slowly kill off Kagome now, huh?" He suggested to Kanna before leaving for the kitchen.  
  
Kanna shook her white hair sadly and entered Kagome's room, looking on as the 'Aunt' and 'niece' had a tickle war. The older little girl waited silently until the spasms of laughter were done before tugging the ebony haired beauty from her bed, finally, and down the hall to the kitchen.  
  
Kagome followed, her hand clasped in Kanna's as the girl dragged the woman down the hall. Rin clung to Kagome's leg, sitting on her foot, grinning happily.  
  
This was how the three stumbled into the kitchen, Inuyasha looked up from his paper to them. Groaning he got up to make them all something to eat.  
  
Cooking never was his best skill…  
  
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---  
  
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"I wonder how Kagome-chan is doing," Sango murmured as she sipped at her lemonade.   
  
Across from her, Miroku shrugged, picking at his tuna fish sandwich. He kicked his legs against the legs of the really, really tall chair and leaned onto the table. "You know Kagome-sama, she's doing fine. Maybe being a little reclusive, but other than that…"  
  
Sango sighed and took a big bite out of her own sandwich, ignoring the bustling people in the little café. "Yeah, I know. You know Tsuyu, the girl with the abusive new husband, right?"  
  
"The one from where you work, from Sakura Hide-Away? Yeah, I know her, you told me about her," Miroku said.  
  
"Well she finally sent in the divorce papers so she can get away from that abusive husband of hers," Sango smiled, chopping on some salad.  
  
Miroku smirked, "Good, good! No woman deserves a man who hurts her," he commented. "So she'll finally be able to find her one true love?"  
  
Sango rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's romantic mush. "Yeah, but you wouldn't know she hadn't already found him…"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Sango snickered. "She's gone on three dates with Nobunaga, Kagome's friend from work, this week! Tsuyu's still married, though! You'd think a sweet girl like that would have more morals than that!"  
  
Miroku adopted a calm, all-knowing look. "If she loves this Nobunaga, then it doesn't matter. True love conquers all!" He announced, looking dashing as he proclaimed about the rights of romance.  
  
Sango snorted but leaned over to kiss his nose. "There is no such thing as true love…"  
  
Miroku shook his head sadly at his girlfriend's closed minded views. "How can you say that?" he asked suddenly, looking at her deeply. "You're my true love…"  
  
Sango blushed, and would have jumped him there if they weren't in a public place.  
  
Apparently…Miroku wasn't so considerate…  
  
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---  
  
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"You're a dork," Kagome laughed affectionately, picking the tomato off of Inuyasha's head.  
  
Inuyasha in turn scowled dangerously at her. "Shut up," he muttered.  
  
Kagome's answer was to burst out giggling as she kicked him out of the kitchen so she could make their meal, seeing as Inuyasha had problems with cutting the vegetables. Rolling her eyes in mock frustration when he refused to leave, she ignored him when he leaned against the counter to watch her cook.  
  
"How do you do that?" he asked suddenly, sticking his nose into her perfectly cubed tomatoes.  
  
Kagome shrugged and continued to wield her knife. "I don't know, Mama taught me how to cook when I was really young. Aunt Mai was in charge of showing me how to use a knife in the kitchen."  
  
"Meaning," he concluded with a straight face, "That if there was a murder that included a butter knife, we'd know it was you?"  
  
She batted at his shoulder. "Oh shut it, you moron. Don't you have something to do? Like jumping off a cliff or something?"  
  
He folded his arms and continued to stare at her intently as she prepared the food. When he didn't lift his gaze, she began to flush, but continued to cut away at the lettuce for some BLTs.   
  
Finally she couldn't take it. "What?"  
  
"Would you really want me to jump off a cliff?"  
  
Kagome blinked back at him blankly. "What? Are you insane? Of course I don't want you to jump off a cliff! Sheesh…"  
  
He shrugged and looked away, out the kitchen window at the falling snow. "Well, you did say it."  
  
"I was joking," she defended herself. Why was he being so serious?   
  
While she was staring at him with a faraway look on her face, meaning that she wasn't really looking at him, he sneaked a piece of turkey out from under her nose. Acting serious to distract her really paid off…  
  
Whistling 'innocently' and striding from the kitchen, he smirked in triumph as she still didn't notice that he'd nicked some food.  
  
She was so gullible…  
  
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---  
  
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"Miroku!" Sango shrieked outraged as she stormed into his large apartment, flushed in embarrassment.  
  
Kohaku looked up from his comic on the couch just in time to see Miroku waltz in, looking pretty content.  
  
The couple ignored Sango's younger brother.  
  
"I can't believe you did that!" She roared, her pink eyes flashing in fury at her boyfriend.  
  
Miroku smirked, looking calm as he eyed her. "You can't tell me you didn't like that," he said finally.  
  
Her answer was to blush more.  
  
Kohaku blinked at them, his young mind trying to put everything together. Miroku had done something to make his sister embarrassed and angry. But they'd been at a café, what could they do there? He shook his head and went back to his comic. He enjoyed living at Miroku's with Sango while the cops hung out at his house.  
  
"Ah ha!" Miroku smirked happily. "So you did like it!" he accused.  
  
Sango spluttered. "I did not!"  
  
Miroku grinned, "Sure," he said slowly, looking for all his life like he really did believe her, even though his tone told everyone he didn't.  
  
Sango glared at him, her teeth bared in anger. "You jerk! How could you! And in _PUBLIC_ even!"  
  
"That just makes it more fun!" he announced, striding up to her to argue face to face. Sango really was pretty when she was angry…now if he could just find the opening to cop a feel…ah there it was…  
  
**_SLAP_**  
  
"MIROKU!" She yelled, "Not in front of my brother!" She pointed to Kohaku who was still reading calmly, like the fight wasn't even going on in the room adjoined to the living room where he sat.  
  
"Don't mind me!" He called up, not even bothering to look up from the comic. Wonder Woman really did look good in tights.  
  
Sango glared at her little brother, mentally cursing the boy out for not helping her out. "Miroku, I still say it was inappropriate!"  
  
"And everything else we do together isn't?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.  
  
Yep…more blushing.  
  
"Ooo," she hissed, rubbing her temples, before pointing at him accusingly. "You…You…!"  
  
"Good looking man?" Miroku supplied smoothly, ducking when she sent a fist at him.  
  
"No, you _jerk_!"  
  
"Sango…are you blushing?" He asked charmingly, pointing at her pink cheeks.  
  
"N-no, of course I'm not blushing. Why would I blush?!" She asked…all in one breath.  
  
Miroku shrugged before tilting his head at her, giving her a slow boyish smile. "I don't know…by the way, Sango?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Why does me feeding you eat Death By Chocolate Cheesecake in public embarrass you so much?" He asked innocently, blinking back at her as her cheeks flamed up again.  
  
"_The calories_!" She wailed finally.  
  
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---  
  
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Kagome glared…and glared…and glared some more.  
  
Inuyasha continued to eat his meal silently, without looking up.  
  
Kagome continued to glare.  
  
Sighing mentally, he looked up and said sarcastically, "If you keep looking at me like that, your face might stay that way!"  
  
Kagome, naturally, ignored his warning.  
  
Across the kitchen table from the couple, Rin and Kanna sighed. "They really are difficult," Kanna whispered, eyeing the two with a cool look.  
  
"Yes Uncle Inu and Aunty Kag are," Rin whispered loudly back, nodding enthusiastically. "They're weird too. A while ago, Aunty Kag was talking to the clouds."  
  
"Talking to the clouds?" Kanna looked at the younger girl.  
  
"Yep, yep! It was awhile ago, when Aunty Kag first came to live with Rin. It was when she first came to the city, and Aunty Kag was gardening with Rin."  
  
Kanna shook her head sadly. "What did she say to the clouds, Rin?"  
  
Rin scrunched up her nose, "Something about wanting to do something. Rin didn't get it so Rin asked Aunty Kag. Aunty Kag told Rin that she did something because Aunty Kag wanted to do it. Then we talked about cats."  
  
Kanna blinked. That had made…no sense. Guess what Kagome was thinking that day would remain a mystery.  
  
In the meantime, that day three months before was the furthest thing from Kagome's mind. She wasn't thinking about when she'd kissed Inuyasha that day and then had gone out gardening with Rin. In fact, she was thinking about strangling him…  
  
Now, where had that extra piece of rope gone?  
  
"Inuyasha…" she said slowly.  
  
"Yeah?" He grunted, looking up from his meal and smirking at the young woman.   
  
"Did you…take anything from the kitchen earlier?"  
  
'Damn…she caught me.' Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Is that what you're so upset over, Kagome? It was just a piece of turkey, nothing big, get over it wench."  
  
"Turkey?" Kagome asked, blinking back at him. "I was talking about the rope that I had in the knife drawer…never mind why I needed it."  
  
Inuyasha eyed her strangely. "You have rope in a knife drawer in the kitchen?"  
  
Kagome rolled her stormy eyes skyward in exasperation. "Of course I do, who doesn't?"  
  
Inuyasha skipped that. "Why do you have rope?"  
  
Kagome looked at him like he was an idiot. "To tie turkeys."  
  
"Tie turkeys," Inuyasha repeated in complete and utter confusion. They had the weirdest conversations…  
  
Kagome slapped her forehead. "Oops, I forgot, you know nothing about cooking. Let me explain. When you bake a turkey in the oven, you tie the turkey's legs together so that it cooks evenly. Get it now?"  
  
"Ok…" he said slowly, still looking at her weirdly. "Thanks for the cooking lesson and explaining why you have rope, but why do you need it now?"  
  
Kagome averted her eyes. "No reason…"  
  
Inuyasha sighed and turned back to his food. Kagome was so weird.  
  
Kanna watched the talk between the two 'grown ups'.   
  
'Those two are a little more odd than I thought. I like Kagome, and Inuyasha too, I guess, _separately_. But **together**…they're insane. Clinically insane, not funny insane. Maybe I should refuse to be watched by them in the future, and make Kagura stay?…No, at least this way the days aren't boring.'  
  
Next to Kanna thinking her complex thoughts, Rin was looking oddly serious. However, if one were to dive into her thoughts, they'd get:  
  
'Purple is pretty, green is great, yellow is…yucky? Pink is perfect, blue is better, black is beautiful, Gold is…fluffy!'  
  
Oh dear…  
  
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---  
  
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"Souta?" Shippou asked out loud, looking up at the older boy with wide, innocent green eyes.  
  
The elder male stopped his pacing and came over to kneel in front of the tiny red head. "Yeah, Shippou?"  
  
"…I-I'm scared," Shippou whispered, casting a paranoid glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was standing behind him to hear his confession.  
  
Souta forced a cheery smile onto his face before hugging the younger boy to him tightly. "I know," he whispered into Shippou's ear. "But it'll be ok, all you have to do is find your way home, I doubt The Boss will give you any help or directions, and then give Kagome the letter. Tell her I'm ok, and safe, and I miss her. Tell her all the kids are alive, but DON'T tell about the factory or The Boss."  
  
"Because he'll hurt you if you do?" Shippou's voice sounded muffled.  
  
"Yeah…but don't worry, you'll be fine. I promise we'll see each other again, ok?"  
  
"Yes," Shippou whimpered. Pulling away from his uncle, the younger boy cradled his injured arm carefully. "It hurts," he whispered.  
  
Souta winced, but covered it up. "Kagome will take care of it, she won't let you hurt any more."  
  
"Ok…but Souta?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I'm still scared," Shippou admitted, feeling bad for not being as brave as the older boy.  
  
Souta patted him awkwardly on the head, before getting an idea. "Shippou…Inuyasha wouldn't be scared! And as soon as you get home, he'll take care of you too."  
  
Shippou doubted Inuyasha would take care of him, but the little boy did grudgingly admit that he, like Souta, looked up to the man.   
  
"Ok, I'll be like Inuyasha…I can't believe I just said that," Shippou snorted, his laughter broke up the somber mood. Souta laughed along with him.   
  
"Yeah, it's almost sundown, the day's almost over already. Tomorrow is Monday, so Kagome will be at work, but she'll be home by night time."  
  
"But…where do I go?" Shippou asked suddenly.  
  
"What do you mean 'where do I go?' Dummy! You go home," Souta rolled his eyes.  
  
Shippou scowled at his uncle. "Oh, shut up. What if Kagome-Okaa-san isn't at home?"  
  
Souta flinched. Oh yeah… "Ok, do you know how to get to Inuyasha's?"  
  
Shippou nodded enthusiastically.  
  
"Ok," Souta said slowly. "Go to Inuyasha's. Even if he's not home, Sesshoumaru or Rin will be. Ok?"  
  
"Ok. Souta?"  
  
"What now?" Souta asked in a not unkindly voice.  
  
"How do I get all the way home from here, by myself?" Shippou was trembling.   
  
Souta gulped. He didn't like the thought of his baby family member walking through Tokyo all on his own. Exspecially at night. "I heard the guards talking once…they said we're in downtown Tokyo. Kagome and Inuyasha are…uh…west of here…I think…"  
  
"How do I know which way is West?"  
  
"I'll make The Boss tell you before you go, if he's so eager for you to give Kagome that letter, he'll have to help you some. When you go, walk quietly, and stay on streets that are lighted so you can see, but stick to the shadows, ok?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Good…" Souta searched his mind for anymore advice. "Don't let anyone see you, and if someone does try to hurt you scream, ok?"  
  
Shippou nodded.  
  
"Take your time, if you get to Inuyasha's before work gets out, then stay at the front door where they can find you when he gets home, don't wander anywhere, ok?"  
  
"Yes…"  
  
"Uh…here…" Souta then shrugged out of his sweater, it was one of the pieces of crappy clothes that the guards had handed the children, saying that the brats stunk. "Wear this over your other sweaters, I'll make The Boss give you another coat too since it's winter, use the snow to hide in if you think anyone sees you."  
  
"Ok…Souta?"  
  
"What," the older boy sighed.  
  
"…I'm still scared…"  
  
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Poor Shippou! Please Review! Ja ne! N.T.  
  
PS Please look at Niamh Tyhara, Evy and I had a great time writing them. 


	15. Journey Home

A/N: I'm on a mini-vacation, but I brought Neko [my computer] with me so I thought I should probably get these chapters written before I procrastinate anymore. Thank you for the reviews and please enjoy!  
  
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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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--- Last Chapter ---  
  
"Uh…here…" Souta then shrugged out of his sweater, it was one of the pieces of crappy clothes that the guards had handed the children, saying that the brats stunk. "Wear this over your other sweaters, I'll make The Boss give you another coat too since it's winter, use the snow to hide in if you think anyone sees you."  
  
"Ok…Souta?"  
  
"What," the older boy sighed.  
  
"…I'm still scared…"  
  
--- End of Last Chapter ---  
  
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Chapter Fifteen: Return Home  
  
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"Inuyasha?"  
  
"Hm?" He mumbled in answer, but ended up just rolling over and going back to sleep, oblivious to the finger prodding him awake.  
  
A sigh sounded. "…Inuyasha?"  
  
"Wha?" He asked groggily, frowning as he rolled onto his back and sliding one eye open a slit. Through his eyelashes he saw Kagome sitting over him. "'Nother nightmare?" The blurry head of black hair shook, Inuyasha took it as a no. "Than what's the matter?"  
  
"I…just can't really sleep. So I was wondering if I could, you know."  
  
"No I don't know," He muttered as he propped himself up on his elbows to look at the young woman a little more clearly. Peering through the dark, Inuyasha noted that Kagome looked flighty, and maybe a little nervous. Like she was embarrassed or scared or something. "What's wrong now?"  
  
Kagome scrutinized him a bit, making him squirm under her intense blue eyes. She then bit her lip and looked to the side, the lightest shade of pink dusting her nose. "Well…I couldn't really sleep and I was remembering when, a while ago, you'd let me sleep next to you when we were going through the whole Naraku episode, and…"  
  
"You wanted to know if you could sleep in here tonight," Inuyasha finished for her, rolling his eyes at her timid ness. "Come on, then," he pulled the sheets back and shivered a little when some cold air floated in.   
  
Kagome eyed the spot some before sighing and crawling further into the bed, plopping down next to him. She couldn't really explain it, but every time she couldn't settle enough to go to sleep, it felt nice to be next to him. She just felt safe, and safety meant familiarity and that made her feel comfortable. After awhile, it was just easy to sleep. "Thanks, Inuyasha."  
  
"Uh huh, pipe down and sleep," he commanded, his own eyes already starting to drift closed. It was around midnight and he had to work the next day, sleep was welcomed. "G'Night."  
  
"Hm, you too," she murmured as she shifted until comfortable, ending up curled against his side. After awhile, once he was asleep and Kagome was on the verge to it, he ended up rolling over so she was next to his chest. It felt so natural to just slip his arms around her loosely. So, feeling protected and like the world was a lot simpler, she drifted off too. The world just wasn't so complicated when you knew Inuyasha would be there to force it to behave.  
  
Sometimes it helped to be so stubborn and demanding.  
  
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---  
  
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Shippou huffed angrily as he glared along the street. It was dark and he was a lot further into town. There were a few people walking around, the city didn't sleep completely at night, but the little boy managed to stay pretty hidden. His intelligent green eyes darting around, the redhead made his way to the next snow bank.  
  
With Bankotsu's 'help', the boy was a lot closer to home than he would have been if he'd tried to go on his own. Luckily, he was almost out of the dangerous part of downtown and at the business area. Once he got far enough in, it wouldn't be too hard to get his bearings. Inuyasha and Kagome had taken the boys on so many trips around the city, Shippou was bound to find at least something he recognized.  
  
"Yeah, 'help'," Shippou scoffed, glaring at one or two drunkards moving on to the next dirty bar. Once they were past, the little boy started off again, keeping to the shadows and out of the streetlights.   
  
True to his word, Souta forced Bankotsu to give Shippou some guidance. It took a lot of complaining, almost pleading, but something was done. To protect from the December cold, he had more sweaters and another pair of shoes. He'd also been given a short ride to give him a head start.   
  
Sure, it'd cut down a few blocks from his journey, but it was more for The Boss' sake than for Shippou's. The ride had been in a window tinted car so that Shippou wouldn't be able to recognize the warehouse if he ever came back to try and bust up the sweatshop.   
  
"Whatever," Shippou muttered, walking as fast as his little legs could carry him. Inside his inner pocket was the letter that he was supposed to give to his Okaa-san so that Kagome knew what to give Bankotsu so that Souta could be released. The youngest Higurashi didn't get was his surrogate mother would have that The Boss would want so much.  
  
But something was wrong.  
  
"Ow, my tummy…" Shippou groaned under his breath, holding his stomach with one hand while swiping at his eyes with the other. He didn't feel so good. The feeling in his abdomen gave him the urge to throw up and his eyes weren't working well. His sight was blurred and a few spots of colors danced here or there at the corner of his vision.   
  
It wasn't very fun.  
  
But he decided to tough it out. "I think…I think that's the company Inuyasha took over last month," Shippou muttered as he gazed up at a tall building. The month before, Kagome's company had shut down and took over this company. Yep, Shippou definitely recognized it. His mother had taken him there with Inuyasha to check it out.   
  
'Good,' he thought, 'I'm getting closer. At least I'm closer to home.'  
  
Crouching behind a broken down car on the side of the road, Shippou waited for a pair of scantily clad woman to stroll by before darting out and across the street. Once on the other side, he crawled slowly back into the shadows, all the while without being seen. Some people might have wanted to be found, because than they could get some help home, but he didn't like the looks of these people. He'd rather wander aimlessly around than to try and get help from them.  
  
"All I have to do is get home, give Kagome-Okaa-san the letter, than wait for Souta to come home. And the other kids. Maybe if Bankotsu gets what he wants, he won't need them to make money anymore!" Oh, great, now he was talking to himself…again.   
  
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---  
  
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It was morning. Inuyasha could tell by the light seeping under his eyelids from the window, but he didn't feel like getting up yet. It was so warm…he could feel Kagome's back to his front, molding to his chest, like she belonged there. It just felt so right to have his arms around her waist and to be waking up beside her.   
  
'Keh,' he grumbled. 'Don't get used to it, lover boy, it's not going to be something that happens all the time!'  
  
Grumbling about stubborn wenches who refused to leave well enough alone so that he'd have a chance to talk to her about his 'feelings', he snuggled deeper into the covers. His alarm clock would go off when it was time to get up, no reason to be awake until then.  
  
Kagome was thinking along the same lines, still sleeping lightly. She didn't get good night's sleep very often, and she felt like taking advantage of it this time. Normally nightmares would plague her, especially around hard times like these, other nights she couldn't stop thinking about 'what ifs' and it took forever to get to sleep. Add to that the fact that she wasn't a morning person and it took forever to wake her up [or a hot drink or cold shower] she didn't get enough sleep.  
  
So why look a gifted horse in the mouth and refuse a few more minutes of blessed sleep?  
  
And then the infernal beeping started. A loud slap of a fist later, she felt a finger poking her in the shoulder. "K'gome…time to wake up. Gotta work…"  
  
"Uh uh," she moaned, burying her face into his pillow.   
  
"Oh, come on. Suck it up, I don't want to go either," he growled to the back of her head.   
  
"But I'm tired!" She wailed, it coming out rather…pitiful by being muffled so much.  
  
"I'm not," he muttered under his breath. He hadn't had such a great night's sleep since…well, the last time he'd slept in the same bed with her. "Come on, I'll go make some tea if Sess hasn't already."  
  
"Hn," she grunted, struggling to keep awake.  
  
"I'll take that as a 'Yes, Inuyasha, I'll be right out' and leave you to it," he muttered, pulling a robe over his sleeping clothes and slipping into a pair of slippers. They were fluff covered and a matching pale pink. One was a furry little kitty, from Kagome, and the other was a dog, a gift from Rin. At least they matched his robe…which was pink, too.   
  
"Hfpht," he heard from his bed faintly. Smirking, he stepped into the hall and made his way to the kitchen. He found Kagura, Sesshoumaru, and even Kouga already at the table. Ignoring the jabs made by the wolf-man about his outfit, he slumped at the table.   
  
"When the hell are you leaving?" He growled at Kouga.  
  
The brunette let it roll right off his back. "Today…this morning, really. Right now to be exact," he corrected as he looked at the clock. "Where's Kagome? Could you guys tell her sorry and 'bye' for me?"  
  
"Sure," Kagura muttered, ignoring Sesshoumaru while reading his section of the newspaper over his shoulder.  
  
"Good, thanks, see ya!" He waved and stalked from the room, leaving Inuyasha blinking after him.  
  
"It was that easy to get rid of him?"  
  
"Yes, little brother," Sesshoumaru drawled while glaring at Kagura's head, trying to burn through it.  
  
"Keh." Ten minutes later, Kagome still wasn't at the table. "That's it, I'm not waiting for her to get her lazy ass out of bed…" Without an explanation to the other two, he got up and put together some of the breakfast on a tray and hefted it back to his room. He entered to find Kagome curled up where he had slept, soaking up the warmth he'd left behind, and snoring lightly.  
  
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"Oh, come on!" He groaned, setting the tray next to the bed and shaking Kagome's shoulder until she looked blearily back at him. "Wake up, I brought food."  
  
"Oh, goody, breakfast in bed…" Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Kagome let him drop the tray into her lap. Sitting up in bed, the blankets pooling around her waist, she ate her breakfast. "Thank you," she mumbled as soon as she was awake enough to comprehend the fact that, not only did he bring her the food, he was waiting for her to finish so he could take the dirty dishes away.  
  
"Keh."  
  
She grinned at him lopsidedly. Chewing slowly, she looked around his room. Besides the king sized bed, with a few charcoal feather comforters and red sheets, there was a black poofy recliner and a few tables piled with comics. A dresser and bookshelves were leaning against the red walls. The carpet underneath was black. All the furniture was blond wood. Not bad, a little more clean cut than she'd expect from Inuyasha, but not bad.  
  
Of course, the dirty clothes strewn on the floor and collected weapons only added a certain charm to the room.  
  
"Like what you see?" he joked, seeing her eye his bedroom. She'd never really looked at it before.  
  
"Actually, yeah."  
  
"Glad you approve," he muttered, "Done yet?"  
  
"You have such a way with words," she said dryly, the tea already kicking in, making her feel more awake. "Hey, Yash?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I have a good feeling about today," her blue-gray eyes sparkled.  
  
"Good, go get dressed."  
  
"Yes, sir!" Kagome mock saluted before hopping from his bed and trotting next door to her own room. A few minutes later she reappeared, a brush in hand as she struggled her black silky locks into a pony tail. Brushing down her pleated skirt, she took a seat at the table.  
  
"Good morning, Kagome-san," Sesshoumaru drawled, not looking up from his food.  
  
"Good morning, Sesshoumaru-sama," she greeted back politely. "You too, Kagura-san."  
  
Kagura smirked before going back to her book. A few minutes later, the scarlet eyed woman excused herself from the table to go check on the girls. Kanna and Rin were still sleeping.   
  
Since it was a weekday, Rin's nanny person would be coming back to look after them both, leaving Kagura free for the day to do whatever she wanted. Which meant shopping, eating, a nice bubble bath with a good book, and then a good night club party. And a shower when she got home. Pure bliss not having to go to work like those suckers.  
  
"Giving me a ride one of you guys?" Kagome looked back and forth between the Youkai brothers while adjusting her loose blouse.   
  
"We can all head over in my car since we'll be leaving at the same time," Sesshoumaru got up from the table and retrieved his keys, a moment later he and Kagome walked out to his expensive Mercedes with Inuyasha trailing behind.  
  
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"The ice cream pallor!" Shippou almost shouted in joy. He would have jumped for joy if he wasn't feeling like he'd keel over any second. Not only had he gone without sleep in the past day, he also didn't eat so well for a long time.  
  
'Let's see,' he mentally calculated. All around him people hurried on their way to work; Shippou didn't bother to hide any longer since he was back into a safer part of Tokyo and these people weren't as dangerous. Plus it was daylight and no one could really hurt him with so many witnesses.  
  
'The Sakura-Hide Away was really close to the ice cream pallor,' he knew that much. And then Inuyasha's house was down the same street and out of the city, he was already close to the edge. Not much further down a street that branched off that and into some leftover woods, and then the Youkai estate would come into view. Maybe another two and a half hours of walking for his tiny legs?  
  
Or…it would have been if Shippou didn't feel like he'd die right there. His mind searched through everything Bankotsu had said.   
  
Couldn't he somewhere now and get help? Did it matter? But…Bankotsu had said not to tell anyone anything. What if that included an explanation to someone so that he could get help?   
  
It was so screwed up, and Shippou was so confused. He was afraid to go anywhere to get a ride to Inuyasha's house because he was scared that Bankotsu would find out and execute Souta. But he didn't have much choice in the matter.  
  
A few minutes later, near the SHA where he and Kagome and Souta had first showed up at so long ago, Shippou fainted.  
  
He was lucky that Jinenji, the kind man that worked at the shelter with Sango, found him. Or else Shippou never would have made it to the hospital in time.  
  
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"Inuyasha! Come on, stop that!" Kagome giggled as her male friend poked her in the side so that he could grab some of her files out of her hands.  
  
"Oh come on," he smirked. "I thought I told you to lay low on working, you don't want to over stress."  
  
She grinned up at him and snatched her papers back. "I'm fine, now quit fussing and actually go and do your work."  
  
"Nah, too boring," Inu shrugged, sitting on the corner of her desk and watching her stare up at him semi-angrily. She looked pretty today.   
  
While he was eyeing her flushed cheeks, she trying hard not to ogle him. Something about waking up next to him that morning had her acting weird around him. Like she was drawn to him, more so than usual. Or…more like three months before around the time of Naraku. He was her rock. He was where she grabbed on for dear life and clung until she was sure she wouldn't be pulled into chaos.   
  
Inuyasha just surprised her all the time, that was the problem. Unpredictable jackass.  
  
Of course, if he was unpredictable…well, she was temperamental. A pretty good pair.  
  
Life was just weird…  
  
"…Lunch?"  
  
"Huh?" Kagome dragged herself back to reality. "What?"  
  
Inuyasha glared at her. "Pay attention to me when I'm talking to you, woman! I said do you want to go out to lunch?"  
  
"Um, not right now…I have," she gestured at her desk which was cluttered with papers.  
  
Inuyasha was disappointed, but refrained from pouting. "Alright, I'll be back when I'm done eating." When Kagome nodded and buried herself back into her work, he shrugged and left. Riding down the elevator he made it to the ground floor. Looking around and seeing everything relatively normal, he left.  
  
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"Kagome, you confuse the hell out of me…" Inuyasha growled under his breath. "Damn woman, when this is all over I swear I'll finally start to date you…"  
  
He continued to curse the woman of his dreams aloud while waiting for his food to be prepared. He didn't even notice a young woman near him gaping at him. Grabbing the bag and saying a hasty 'thank you' to the restaurant worker, he left quickly with his take out.   
  
The redhead was left watching her boss leave with a confused green gaze, before Ayame's food was ready and she left too, following Inuyasha at a safe distance. What had she just heard?  
  
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"Kag?" Inuyasha called as he re-entered her office. When she looked back up at him with a smile, he smirked back. "I brought us both some food from down the street so we can eat here. You won't have to leave your precious work."  
  
"It's not precious," Kagome deadpanned. "I just wanted to get it done so that I wouldn't have to worry about bringing any home. Thanks for getting some food."  
  
"So you are hungry," Inu stated, dropping the bad of food on top of the paper she was currently writing on. Sitting down across from her, he opened it up and started to separate their meals. "I got you some-"  
  
"Oden?!"  
  
"…No, some vegetable fried rice," he finished, handing her some chopsticks. "I got the calamari."  
  
"Good," Kagome snatched some out of his little bowl. Eating it, looking innocent when he glared at her, she offered him some of her own food.  
  
"Keh."  
  
Kagome grinned and continued eating.  
  
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Ayame walked back into work slowly, her take out hanging in the bag clutched by her hand.   
  
'Did I just…?'  
  
Hear Inuyasha talking about dating Kagome at a restaurant? Yeah…  
  
The redhead smiled brightly, looking around the office building before stepping onto the elevator to go up to her floor. So her two bosses had a crush on each other. She'd known it for awhile, Inuyasha was always protecting her from the male population and hanging out with Kagome. And her black haired friend was always talking about the younger Youkai brother.  
  
But now she had proof!   
  
'Gah…They really need to go out together. I mean on a date, not on those little hanging out sessions that they always do. They'd make a cute couple…'  
  
Inuyasha was the tall, dark, and handsome type. He had tan skin and long, silky black hair. Not to mention the fact that he was muscular, but lean. Kagome was pretty short, but she had great hair too. Not to mention the most beautiful eyes Ayame had ever seen…except for her own green ones, of course. They'd just go so well together.  
  
Kagome was the old fashioned type of girl who like her men macho. And Inuyasha practically dripped testosterone. Different heights, sure, and definitely different attitudes but they'd balance each other out. Kagome would keep him calm and fun while he'd keep her not so…innocent…  
  
Yeah. Meant in more ways than one.  
  
Not that Kagome was very 'innocent' or naïve. Not after Naraku. But still…she'd always be a sweet girl, the damsel in distress type.   
  
Ayame picked at her food. All that was left was to get them together. Maybe Sango would help? The two young women had been going on girls night out's for awhile now with Kagome, maybe some of the other women too. Like Yura. Sure, Yura was Inuyasha's most recent ex, but she was…nice, sorta.   
  
'Nobunaga and that new little girlfriend of his too,' Ayame added to her list of her personal army. 'I'd ask Hojo too, but I think that he has a crush on Kagome…'  
  
Who knows? Maybe Kagome had a lot more friends that could help Ayame out with setting her bosses up.  
  
Ayame could remember Kagome talking about Kyoto, her home, all the time. What were some of the names of people? Yuka, Eri, Ayumi…maybe that Kouga guy too.  
  
'Out of all the old school friends Kagome mentions, Kouga is the only guy. I guess Naraku didn't let her associate with men or something…I wonder what this 'Kouga' is like…'  
  
Plans began to form into the redhead's mind.  
  
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Kagome and Inuyasha sat in her office, her work pushed aside, talking and chatting. It was so easy to forget about all her problems when she was with him, which is why she often did. Inuyasha had this air about him that made you think he controlled the world. If he felt so safe to be around, you couldn't help but feel totally protected.  
  
Kagome soaked in the feeling.  
  
Inuyasha opened up a lot more and easier when he was with her. He loved it.   
  
Finally the phone ringing broke the conversation up. Picking up the phone Kagome chirped into the receiver, "Moushi, Moushi. Inutaisho Company, Higurashi Kagome's office."  
  
Inuyasha watched as the smile slipped a little and her stormy eyes darkened with confusion.  
  
"The Tokyo hospital? What can I help you with?"  
  
Then the smile broke all together and her hand loosened so much it was amazing that the damn phone didn't fall out. Inuyasha was about to ask what was wrong when Kagome spoke again, her voice unsteady and wavering.  
  
"Yeah…I'm here, sorry…can you repeat that?"  
  
Silence to Inuyasha.  
  
"Oh, my…T-thank you for calling…um, could you t-tell me…w-when?" Kagome stuttered, both hands clutching at the phone like it was her lifeline. "Thank you, what room?"   
  
Pause.  
  
"Ok, I'll be…right there…"  
  
Click.  
  
"…Kagome?" Inuyasha began cautiously when Kagome just sat in her chair, her hand still hovering over her phone. Then the tears streamed down her face. "Kagome? What's going on? Who called from the hospital?"  
  
"…A nurse. She said, she said that," gulp, "Shippou showed up there this morning a few hours ago."  
  
"Shippou? Our Shippou? He's here?!"  
  
"Yeah. Inuyasha?"  
  
"What?" He asked, running a hand through his hair, wondering at how she was able to stay so calm.  
  
"I think we should go see him now."  
  
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A/N: Yes, you'll find out what Bankotsu wants in the next chapter. And no, Shippou is not going to die. Review! Ja ne! 


	16. At The Hospital II

I just pulled another all-nighter so I'm writing this with no sleep...again. But I have Elton John's greatest hits playing so let the creative juices flow! Note: I'm only being half sarcastic.  
  
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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.  
  
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Aftermath's Destruction  
  
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--- Last Chapter ---  
  
"...Kagome?" Inuyasha began cautiously when Kagome just sat in her chair, her hand still hovering over her phone. Then the tears streamed down her face. "Kagome? What's going on? Who called from the hospital?"  
  
"...A nurse. She said, she said that," gulp, "Shippou showed up there this morning a few hours ago."  
  
"Shippou? Our Shippou? He's here?!"  
  
"Yeah. Inuyasha?"  
  
"What?" He asked, running a hand through his hair, wondering at how she was able to stay so calm.  
  
"I think we should go see him now."  
  
--- End of Last Chapter ---  
  
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Chapter Sixteen: At The Hospital II  
  
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"Kagome...are you all right?"  
  
"Inuyasha, for the fifth and final time, I'm fine!" Said woman ground out through clenched teeth. Apparently the dark haired businessman thought it was impossible for Kagome to stay calm. Although, the fact that she was at least 20 miles over the speed limit might lead someone to believe otherwise.  
  
Lavender eyes glared back at her, disbelievingly. "Should we call someone?"  
  
"Like who?" Kagome asked, keeping her eyes trained on the road. All she needed now was a car crash.  
  
"Sango or your mom. Hell, even Miroku!"  
  
"I can understand why Mama might want to know, but why would Miroku need to know?" Kag chanced a glance at him for a split second. The hospital wasn't too far away now. Thank Kami, Buddha, and any other deity out there that was listening to her prayers to see her son soon.  
  
Inuyasha repressed a growl. Kagome could only scare him four times when she put her mind to it. When she was being way too sweet: she normally wanted something. When she cried: that in itself is explanatory. When she was beyond pissed: hell, she'd scare the devil himself, the fire added some great effects when it danced behind her when she was angry. And times like now: when she was being way too calm.  
  
Something was bound to go wrong.  
  
And when Kagome was being unstable, that meant Inuyasha had to be the brains of the operation and that normally gave mixed results. Mostly bad.  
  
"Miroku would like to know," he tried to sound reasonable, "Since he loves Shippou like a nephew, and because of his connections with whatever government branch he works for. Maybe they can start a search to trace where the kid came from."  
  
"Inuyasha?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You're scaring me," she said dryly.  
  
"Why?" He was currently heavily scowling.  
  
"Because you're making sense. I don't like it when you make sense, because then its normally some kind of horrible situation. So when you start to say something that's reasonable, it means that karma is way out of whack, or the cosmos themselves. So now that you're saying half way intelligent things, I have reason to believe that when we get to the hospital that something's going to be very wrong," She informed the man without batting an eyelash.  
  
A few seconds later, when her ramblings had sunk in, Inuyasha looked at her blankly. Where the hell did she come up with these things? "Kagome...Three months ago you were on the brink of insanity because of all the screwed up things in your life. Then you almost recovered. Now you're stuck going through hell again. I don't trust you to make sense. And judging by what you just said...I was right."  
  
"I make perfect sense!" Kagome defended herself, happy that he was distracting her from her outrageous worries.  
  
"Uh huh, and Kagura's eyes are really red. Come on, everyone knows that they're contacts!"  
  
"Are not."  
  
"Are to," he shot back at her.  
  
"Are not."  
  
"Are to."  
  
"Are not and shut the hell up," Her monotone voice was really creeping him out now. When Kagome could have a normal argument with him, where she didn't burst into tears and actual had more than one tone of voice, then he'd know she was normal.  
  
"Keh," he settled on, looking out the window, resting his head against the cold glass. "They just said Shippou, right?"  
  
"Yeah, they didn't say anything about Souta," Now Kagome's voice was a little sadder. Inuyasha preferred the monotone version. "...Do you think he's all right?"  
  
Inuyasha glanced over at Kagome again, wondering why he'd been mental enough to allow the woman to drive. Oh, yeah...she'd threatened him. "Don't get your hopes up. He's been gone for a little over a week with kidnappers and he's now at a hospital."  
  
"Thanks, you make me feel so much better," she drawled bitterly, her jaw clenching.  
  
"Hey," he scowled, "Be happy that we know he's ok."  
  
"_Alive_, not 'ok'. And you have no clue how glad I am," Kagome snapped back.  
  
"I do have a clue! I care for him too, you know?"  
  
Kagome grunted, but felt a twinge of guilt. Of course Inuyasha loved Shippou. Not a lot, maybe, but he did. He took the boys out for ice cream and filled in the head male role for both of them. She wasn't married, and her father was gone so it was nice to know they had a role model. Not a good one, granted, but one none the less.  
  
At least he wasn't a convicted convict...  
  
Or at least Kagome didn't think Inuyasha was.  
  
'I guess I really do have too much imagination. It'll get me in trouble some time,' Kagome thought, plowing on towards the hospital, her heart near a breaking point.  
  
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"Excuse me!" Kagome gasped, bending over the counter where some of the nurses worked.  
  
"Miss, I'm sorry but you'll have to wait in line," A woman in a uniform told her, tilting her head in the direction of the long row of people.  
  
Kagome's lips thinned, "I'm not here for medical attention. I need to-!"  
  
"I don't think you understand," The older woman cut in, "You must wait in line. No exceptions."  
  
"No, I don't think _you_ understand," Kagome hissed, "I need to find my son. I got a call and-!"  
  
"Back of the line!" The nurse bit out, her patience thinning.  
  
Kagome snapped. "That's it! You stupid _bitch_, I need to find my son NOW! Do you understand or do I have to spell it out for you, you illiterate moron who can only say the same thing over and over. Shut the fuck up and tell me where the hell my son is!"  
  
The nurse opened her mouth to yell back a retort, or to call security for this clearly irrational and dangerous woman, but two things happened. Actually, more like two people happened.  
  
"Ma'am," Inuyasha appeared at Kagome's elbow, his eyes lit up with anger, "We need to find this woman's son, and if you don't help us, I'll fuckin' go back there and find the records myself."  
  
"Then I'll call security!" The nurse threatened, her face turning red from anger with these idiotic _children_ who dared to question her authority. They needed to go to the back of the line!  
  
"That won't be necessary," A deep voice commented, making the three arguers turn their attention to a charming gentleman, wearing a neatly pressed doctor's coat.  
  
"Dr. Ookami?" The nurse asked uncertainly of the highly respected M.D. of the Tokyo Hospital.  
  
The man, tall with pride, raised an eyebrow back at the nurse. His neat hair was a steel gray from age, yet he didn't look old. "Nurse Hinikam, from now on I expect you to be more understanding of dire situations."  
  
"Yes, sir," the nurse responded immediately, more than a little disgruntled for being chewed out by the most respected doctor in the hospital for doing her job.  
  
"Kagome-sama," Dr. Ookami now turned on the rapidly blinking girl, "I expected better of you."  
  
The stormy-eyed woman blushed a little in regret for her words, but knew there wasn't time to straighten it out. "I'm sorry Mr. Ookami. Can you help us? I have to find my son, Higurashi Shippou. I got a call and he's been kidnapped and I haven't seen him in-!"  
  
The doctor cut her off with the wave of a hand. "I understand, I've heard of your situation from my son. I saw the little boy being brought in and knew you'd be coming. Come on!" He turned on his heel and started down one of the many maze like corridors.  
  
Kagome followed without hesitation, Inuyasha a moment later. "Kagome?" He jogged up so he was walking quickly next to her, "Who is that?"  
  
"Dr. Ookami?" Kagome looked over for a second before training her eyes onto the back of the doctor with worry. "That's Kouga's father."  
  
"The wolf? He has a father?"  
  
"No," Kagome joked dryly, "He was born from wild trees in the forest in the Land of Narnia."  
  
"Oh," Inuyasha shoved his hands into his pockets, brooding. "So this is why that wimp is studying medicine?" He tilted his head in Kouga's father's direction.  
  
Kagome nodded stiffly. "Yeah, ever since we were really young, Mr. Ookami has been trying to get Kouga to become a doctor too. I don't think Kouga-kun minds at all or anything, so it's fine."  
  
"And he works in the hospital in Tokyo? I thought Kouga grew up in Kyoto, with you."  
  
Kagome frowned. And Inuyasha called her nosy! "Kouga's parents are divorced, Mr. Ookami is here practicing medicine while his mother is back in Kyoto."  
  
"Oh," Inuyasha thought he got it now.  
  
The trio, the younger two a few steps behind the eldest, walked for a few more minutes in silence. After swiftly turning a few more corners, Kagome ventured to ask: "Mr. Ookami, can you tell me if Shippou is ok? Do you know anything?"  
  
The older gentleman, his thick moustache looking like it should be tickling his upper lip, looked over his shoulder for a minute, never slowing down. "Yeah, I do. When I saw your last name on the chart, I took the case myself. I'll inform you when we get to the room."  
  
"Can you at least tell me how he is?" Kagome pressed, her anxiety flashing in her worried eyes.  
  
"He's alive," the doctor replied shortly, taking another sharp turn. "Hurry along now."  
  
"Yes, sir," Kagome responded dully, worry gnawing at her insides. Why did Kouga's dad look so grim?  
  
Inuyasha put his hand on her shoulder for a brief instant and smirked confidently at her when she looked at him. Smiling timidly in gratitude, Kagome walked on. As soon as she turned, however, Inuyasha dropped the act and let the same worry and anxiety show on his face too.  
  
"We're here," Dr. Ookami announced, stopping at a thick wooden door long enough to turn the handle and shove the door open.  
  
Unsurprisingly, Kagome shoved passed the older man to dash into the room, Inuyasha close on her heels. When Inu finally made it fully into the room, he glanced worriedly at her when she stood gaping at the hospital bed, a hand to her mouth in horror.  
  
Fearing the worse, Inuyasha followed Kagome's line of sight to Shippou, Mr. Ookami tsk'ing sadly behind them.  
  
Shippou's tiny body looked even smaller in the large bed. He looked frailer too, his moist white face blending in with the white sheets. Even his fiery auburn hair was dull and limp. An I.V. needle was jabbed into the soft skin on the underside of his arm, letting fluids enter his body. His breathing was steady, but harsh and he didn't look too comfortable. His face contorted every few seconds like he was having a nightmare.  
  
"Oh, my..." Kagome drifted off, not even able to finish. She choked and felt large tears prick her eyes. They ran down her face, making her cheeks feel raw and sore in a matter of seconds. She cupped her hands around her mouth, begging herself not to sob. She needed to be strong...for Shippou.  
  
Inuyasha swallowed hard and wrapped a supporting arm around Kagome's shoulders. Tugging her towards him, he let her lean all her weight against his chest. Slipping his arms around her, he let her cry some more while he chewed on his lip. The annoying brat looked so...  
  
"Its not as bad as it looks," Dr. Ookami finally broke through their depressing.  
  
"Really?" Inuyasha asked gruffly, his eyes still locked on the little boy's sweating face. "That doesn't really help since he looks horrible. How much better can he be?!"  
  
The older male frowned but stepped forward, patting Kagome's arm comfortingly. "Shippou, that's his name, right?"  
  
Kagome nodded dumbly while Inuyasha smoothed down her hair soothingly.  
  
"Well, Shippou is dehydrated. That's the worse of the problem; he passed out from it in front of the Sakura Hide-Away and was found by an employee there. We have an I.V. in to help regulate the fluid intake." The doctor explained.  
  
"So he just needs some water and he'll be better?" The younger man asked hopefully. That didn't sound too bad, Inuyasha thought.  
  
But sadly Dr. Ookami shook his head. "The dehydration is the worse of it, but its not the only thing. He is lacking the nutrients needed to keep healthy. Where ever he was, Shippou wasn't fed well. He did eat, but whatever it was wouldn't have kept he alive for very long."  
  
Kagome made a startled sound and buried her head into Inuyasha's shoulder to try and smother herself as she choked on more sobs.  
  
"Anything else?"  
  
Dr. Ookami studied him for a minute. Normally only immediate family would be allowed in the hospital room, but Kouga had mentioned to his father that Inuyasha was Kagome's family, no way around it. "One more thing."  
  
"And that is?" Inu grunted, looking back to the unconscious boy.  
  
"Somehow Shippou got extremely hurt. He has a three inch gash on one of his arms. It wasn't taken care of properly and has become...infected," The Dr. told them all gravely.  
  
Kagome swallowed and peaked over Inuyasha's shoulder, her eyes red and swollen. "Is that it?" She squeaked, "He'll be ok?"  
  
Mr. Ookami smiled at his son's best friend. "Yes, Kagome-sama, we got to him in time. You should be grateful that he was taken here immediately after being found."  
  
"I am," Kagome responded without hesitation, looking back to her son. He looked so sickly compared to his normal hyper self.  
  
"When he got here, we had to clean out the wound and use some medicines to make the swelling go down. We also had to stitch it up."  
  
"But he'll be fine," Inuyasha repeated Kagome.  
  
"Yes, he'll be fine. I'll leave you three alone now," the older man bowed respectfully and backed out of the room, closing the door on his way out.  
  
"He'll be fine," Kagome echoed dully.  
  
Inuyasha nudged her almost playfully. "You should be more excited than that!"  
  
She gave him a watery grin and shoved him back with her elbow. "I am...I'm just a little..."  
  
"Shocked? Relieved?"  
  
"Yeah," Kagome nodded and pulled a chair out to sit down. She held Shippou's limp hand in her own. "I missed you," she whispered.  
  
Inuyasha sat down next to her, smirking in relief. Shippou was ok. Part of Kagome's family was back and soon Souta would be around too, and then Kagome would be happy again. He liked her when she was happy.  
  
Physically and mentally exhausted from worry, Kagome leaned against her friend. "Thanks."  
  
"What did I do?"  
  
"You came with me. Thanks."  
  
"You're welcome, I guess," he patted her awkwardly on the head and then quieted down so Kagome could watch her adopted son in peace.  
  
Everything would be ok.  
  
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Shippou continued to toss and turn over the next few hours, refusing to wake up. At least the medicine was working wonders on the small boy's body and his fever was reduced. The gash on his small arm also showed signs of healing, and was no longer festering.  
  
Inuyasha left Kagome's side only once, and that was to use the phone.  
  
"Sango?" He asked when the young woman picked up on the second ring at Miroku's apartment.  
  
"Inuyasha? Where are you? I came by your work earlier but Ayame said that you and Kagome had rushed out. Is anything wrong? Is everything ok?"  
  
Inuyasha nodded dumbly, even thought Sango couldn't see it over the phone. "Shippou's back."  
  
There was a long stretch of silence, and then... "Really? Shippou's back where? Did they find them? All the kids?"  
  
"No. Just Shippou. Apparently the runt passed out in your works' parking lot and one of the workers, Jinenji, found him and brought him to the hospital. That's where we are."  
  
"Do you want me to come over?" Sango asked, relief evident in her voice.  
  
"No, but maybe in a little while. The brat hasn't even woken up yet," he said gruffly, "So it'll be nice to let Kagome have a moment with him before everyone else shows up and bugs the crap out of her like we know they will."  
  
"That's oddly considerate of you, Inuyasha."  
  
"Keh."  
  
"Is there anything I can do, though?" Sango was almost bursting with happiness. Shippou had escaped! Things were looking up!  
  
"Yeah. Call Miroku, would you? And Sesshoumaru and Kagura...And Kagome's mom. She needs to know, too. And the cops might be a good idea," Inuyasha added as an after thought.  
  
"Ok," Sango mentally made a checklist of who needed to be called. "What hospital?"  
  
"The big one here in Tokyo."  
  
"Ok," Sango smiled, "I'll work on it."  
  
"Thanks," Inuyasha grunted, eyeing the coffee cart. "I'm going to head back to the room and stay with Kagome now. Make sure everyone knows to give her and the runt some time to themselves."  
  
"Can do. Ja ne!"  
  
"Yeah, bye," Inuyasha hung up. A minute later he was heading back down the sterile white halls with two caffeine packed beverages in either hand.  
  
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Kagome was smiling down at her son. When he slept, she was sure he looked like an angel. So sweet and innocent looking...a far cry from when he was awake! Shippou was nothing but a ball of energy and curiosity.  
  
Some movement caught her eye and her smile widened when he started to awaken.  
  
"Good morning, sleepy head," she cooed lovingly, stroking his damp forehead with a gentle hand.  
  
"Morning, Okaa-san..." The little boy mumbled around a wide yawn. "Where are we?" He asked in a daze when he realized there was an oxygen mask that covered up half his face.  
  
"Tokyo, home. You're in the hospital, getting better, 'k?"  
  
"Ok," he grinned cutely, his eyes half lidded. "I can't feel my arm," he said after a minute.  
  
"You hurt it so they had to give you some medicine so it wouldn't hurt anymore." Kagome explained in a whisper, smoothing his unruly hair away from his forehead.  
  
His young face stretched into another wide yawn. "I missed you."  
  
"I missed you, too," she confided, leaning down to kiss him softly. "Don't leave again."  
  
"I don't plan on it. Where's Inuyasha? That's where I was heading...I don't really remember much..."  
  
"You were walking to Inuyasha's?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"All by yourself?" Kagome inquired, a bit startled that her 7 year old was wandering the streets of a large city on his own.  
  
"Mhmm," he murmured, his mind already starting to cloud back up with sleep.  
  
"Did you run away from the bad people who kidnapped you, sweetie?"  
  
Shippou shook his head. "They let me go...I can't remember why, though."  
  
"That's ok, you can tell me when you wake up again. One more thing."  
  
"What Okaa-san?" Another yawn.  
  
"What about all the other kids?"  
  
Shippou grinned a little. "They're all ok. We were all ok."  
  
Kagome smiled. "Go to sleep now, ok?"  
  
Shippou answered her by dropping into a world of darkness once more.  
  
"That's good, that they're all alive," Inuyasha commented from the doorway.  
  
Kagome didn't even bother to turn around. "How long have you been there?"  
  
"Not long," he answered, sitting back down next to her and handing her some coffee. "Why don't you rest some?"  
  
"It's the middle of the afternoon!" Kagome protested weakly.  
  
"True," Inuyasha conceded, smirking at her, "But you look like crap. Sleep," He ordered before she could throw an insult back at him. He pointed firmly at the second bed in the room. It was a good thing that Shippou didn't have to share his room with another patient.  
  
"Fine," Kagome sighed, pecking him lightly on the cheek. "Thank you."  
  
"No problem. Sleep."  
  
"I'm going, I'm going..."  
  
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Half way through I went from Elton John to Staind. What a difference...::sweat drop:: That's an understatement. You'll just have to wait for the next chapter for what Bankotsu is after, sorry. Review and ja ne! 


	17. They Want What!

Aftermath's Destruction

I know, I'm taking so long with this. I'm so sorry. Its been so hectic, you know? School's been taking a lot out of me, and I've started a few new books and such. Here's a hint: Don't read Jurassic Park at night, home alone, and during a rainstorm. Why? Because the dinosaurs eat people in the book at night, during a rainstorm.

But I'm putting something out, finally, but its going to be short, so very short. I'm sorry, but at least its something. I wanted to write something before I completely lost the will to write. BUT this story will go on, I will finish it. I swear, I haven't left a story yet.

So thank you for the reviews, and for sticking with me. The next brake won't be so long.

AND after 19 weeks of boot camp for my big brother, now 20, he's finally home! I've missed him so much! He's now a chemical specialist, and sadly, could be sent to Iraq at any time. But at least I can spend time with him.

I'll stop talking now, please enjoy the chapter!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

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Aftermath's Destruction

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- Last Chapter –

"True," Inuyasha conceded, smirking at her, "But you look like crap. Sleep," He ordered before she could throw an insult back at him. He pointed firmly at the second bed in the room. It was a good thing that Shippou didn't have to share his room with another patient.

"Fine," Kagome sighed, pecking him lightly on the cheek. "Thank you." "No problem. Sleep." "I'm going, I'm going..." 

- End of Last Chapter –

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Chapter Seventeen: They Want What?!

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"We're here to see Ms. Higurashi and her son," A deep voiced detective stated when he arrived at the help desk in the emergency room.

The woman behind it took one look at his badge and her mouth twitched. "Good. I was hoping Dr. Ookami would come to his senses and call the police. I don't see why he was so calm when that 'Ms.' Higurashi woman started to threaten me. It's only good and right to bring in the authorit-!"

"Ma'am," The exasperated officer interrupted. "We're not here to arrest her, we're here to talk to her and her son. Can you please direct us to their room?" The dark haired man waved around at the other five policemen standing behind him.

The nurse thinned her lips, not happy that Kagome would get away with screeching at her earlier. Where was the justice in this city? "I'll call a doctor to escort you to the room," Nurse Hinikam muttered.

She pushed a red button on the phone counsel in front of her and called down one of the interns. The gangly young man arrived soon and began to lead the police towards the room where Kagome and Shippou were staying.

"I hate cops..." the nurse murmured under her breath before going back to work.

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"Right this way," The young intern, dressed in scrubs, told the five policemen, and one detective, Detective Kori.

The men filed into the room and left the intern to get back to his rounds.

"Mr. Youkai..." The detective nodded to Inu Yasha, who was currently glaring back at him. "Ms. Higurashi..." Detective Kori scowled, glaring at Kagome, who was sitting up in the hospital bed she'd fallen asleep in, rubbing her tired eyes.

"Hello, Detective Kori," she yawned politely, forgetting momentarily that the last, and first, time she'd met the detective, Kagome had punched him.

The detective grunted before turning his cold gaze to the small, weak body lying in the hospital bed. Shippou was no longer pale, and the deep red on his cheeks from the fever was gone. In so short a time, the little boy was starting to look better. He clearly healed fast. "We need to ask him questions."

Kagome immediately stopped yawning and turned to stare wide-eyed at Kori. "What? You can't be serious!" She suddenly growled low in her throat, "My son has just been through a horrible experience! He needs rest! He's worn out, tired, sick, and hurt. We can't just wake him up so that you can hurl intimidating questions at him!" She ranted passionately. Who the hell did this man think he was?

"Ma'am," Kori drawled coldly, "this is a federal case! We need information, and we need it now. There are 111 lives still missing. You may have proved me wrong since your little boy showed up alive, but I can't say the same about the rest. We need to know where we can find them, so that we can save as many as possible. Do you understand?"

"I understand perfectly that we need to find the other children. I'm not a monster! But Shippou needs to rest, he's hurt. And if he's woken up, he probably won't remember anything useful!" Kagome snapped, standing up, and shaking in anger.

"Ms. Higurashi," Kori growled out, "Your son is just one life. There are others that need to be saved!"

"Why you-!" Kagome lifted up her hand, about to slap him across the face to knock some sense into the detective's head, but Inuyasha's hand grabbed her wrist.

"Kagome," he whispered into her ear, "Calm down. I don't like this, either. I don't like him, but we should try and do this his way. Hitting him again won't help any."

She sighed, feeling horrible about her reaction. What was she becoming? Normally she had to calm Inuyasha down when he was about to do something stupid. This is why she hated situations like these. Yes, naturally, she was a bit unpredictable, but lately she was on such an emotional roller coaster she even surprised herself.

"Ok," Kagome whispered back to Inuyasha. Then she looked back at Detective Kori, the lead officer in the case of the missing children. "I'll let you question my son...but only after he wakes up on his own."

She glared at him determinedly with hard, sapphire eyes. After a minute of being stubborn, the aging policeman finally nodded stiffly. "Fine," he muttered and motioned the other officers, all of whom were looking on amused, to find a seat in the cramped hospital room.

"I have to warn you though," Kagome said once she was sitting back down on the second, empty hospital bed with Inuyasha. "Shippou woke up earlier, but he couldn't remember much about why he was here. He did, however, say that all the other kids were alive."

The detective nodded. "That's valuable. Did he say anything else?"

Kagome fell silent for a minute and looked down at the floor. Inuyasha, ignoring the others in the room, scooter over and wrapped a supporting arm around her shoulders. Taking for granted the fact that she needed comfort.

"He said..." Kagome scrunched up her nose in thought, her blue-gray eyes clouded over with confusion. "He said that he didn't run away by himself...that they let him go. I didn't get why."

She looked up from the ground and at the officer sitting across from her in a chair, on the other side of the bed where Shippou was sleeping.

"That doesn't make sense," Kori muttered after a second of silence. "The kid was delirious. Either that, or we're working with extremely moronic criminals. Why let a witness go when they can talk about where you are and what you're doing?"

"Yeah...either they're really stupid, or really smart," Inuyasha muttered. "Why let only one kid go? Why only Shippou? You suits can't believe it was out of stupidity, they had to do it for a reason. They'll have a plan..."

"...I doubt it," Kori glared at him. "Mr. Youkai, you have too much expectation on their parts. What else would they want? They haven't asked for ransom, so they must just want the kids for a reason. And they have kids. Lots of kids. So what plan could they possibly have?"

Was it possible for a detective to be so closed-minded? How did he solve anything?

"It's never too late for ransom," Kag murmured looking at her son's serene face. "They could still ask for something. And whatever they're using the kids for has to expose them at some point, they'll need something else to keep them paid."

Inuyasha squeezed her shoulders. Against his better judgment, he felt his heart go out to the small woman leaning against him.

"You have Shippou. Its some kind of sign, somehow it'll get better. Some twisted sign though..."

"You're scaring me," Kagome muttered. "You're usually the pessimistic one."

Inuyasha smirked lightly. "I don't have to be all the time."

"When you two are done cuddling over there," Kori drawled, "I'd like to get to work. The kid's wakin' up."

Kagome snapped her gaze from Inuyasha's eyes to her son's. "Shippou, honey..." She hopped off the tall bed and went to kneel next to her adopted son. Taking his tiny hand into her own, she stroked his forehead with the other. "How are you feeling," She whispered, fighting the huge smile trying to erupt onto her face.

"I'm fine..." He yawned widely.

"That's good, son," Kori interrupted the family moment. "I need to ask you some questions."

Shippou looked at the detective before frowning and turning his face away. "I can't..." He whispered.

"Why?" Kori scowled. He hated the Higurashi family...

"Because they'll kill Souta if I tell you about them!" The redhead choked back a dry sob.

Kagome took off his oxygen mask and scooted him over to the edge of his bed so that she could hug him. "Shh, its alright."

"No, it's not!" The little boy buried his head into his surrogate mother's shoulder. The memories of what Bankotsu said came rushing back to him. Even though Shippou didn't remember where the warehouse was, or even Bankotsu's name, it still scared him that he might let something slip that would get Souta killed.

"It is. Just tell us what you can, sweetie," Kagome cooed into his ear, petting his bangs back from his forehead.

"Tell us what you know," Kori corrected, sending a cold-hearted glare at Kagome.

Kagome, needless to say, ignored him.

"Excuse me." A young woman opened the door quietly and stepped into the room. Her short white heels clacked sharply on the tile. She was wearing a cleanly pressed nurse's uniform, and her long straight hair was pinned back perfectly under a white cap. Her name tag read 'Yumata Kikyou'.

"A Ms. Taijai and Mr. Houshi are here, and have asked for you all," she announced.

Kagome looked up and smiled slightly at the older woman. "Okay, thank you. Could you show them here, please?"

The corners of Kikyou's lips lifted up into a small smile back at her. "I'm sorry Miss, but I have to help a doctor prep for surgery. But I can lead one of you out there to meet the visitors so that you can bring them back here. I'm heading in that direction anyway."

Inuyasha stood up and stretched, "I'll go get Sango and Miroku. I'll be right back."

"Thanks, Inuyasha," Kagome told him before going back to comforting Shippou.

"Its fine," he grunted before following Kikyou out of the room. Her long strides led him to a distant waiting room that Sango and Miroku, jumping around excitedly, were in. "Thanks," he told the nurse.

Kikyou nodded calmly. "Glad I could help, good luck with the patient you're keeping company here." One more flash of her steel gray eyes, and then she was striding confidently out to locate the doctor about to perform heart surgery.

Inuyasha turned back to his friends. "The cops are already here," he informed them.

Sango sighed. "I'm not surprised."

Miroku gave them both dirty looks. "I don't see why you two have a problem with government workers."

Sango and Inuyasha turned to each other before shrugging it off. Then the long-haired man led the other two back to the hospital room.

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After Inuyasha left, Kagome continued to murmur loving words to Shippou. After a few tense moments, he finally calmed down enough to lay back down and face Detective Kori.

"I...can't tell you too much." Shippou said slowly. "Or The Boss will hurt Souta."

"The Boss?" Kori echoed back, taking notes on a small pad of paper.

"He's the leader guy," Shippou explained. "He's in charge, but I don't know his name."

"Describe him."

"Tall, dark hair...dark long hair...about Inuyasha's age. He seems pretty calm and nice, but he's mean. I know it. He loses his temper sometimes," Shippou told them. "He has brown eyes, like Souta."

Kori wrote down everything. "You said he's the leader, who else was there?"

Shippou thought. "There were some guards. About fifteen...I think. Probably less. And I heard a couple of them talking, something about how The Boss works with some other men, but he's the one in charge. That's why they all call him the boss."

"Right. Tell me about where you were."

Shippou winced. He didn't like all these questions. What if he slipped up? "It was...a warehouse, I think. It had two floors. There was a big room downstairs that we slept in, and another one that we ate in. They took up half the bottom floor. The other half was...a hall thing, with lots of smaller rooms. We worked there."

"Worked?"

"Some of us sewed...and stuff like that. I helped clean some big machines, that's why I hurt my arm." Shippou sniffled and looked at his arm, which was wrapped in bloodstained bandages.

Kagome shot Kori a look, telling him not to ask anything more that would upset her son. Kori scowled at her and wrote down: Kids- working. Sweatshop. Then he asked, "What about the second floor?"

"There wasn't a ceiling over the eating room, so I could see up. There were only two small rooms, I think. The rest was empty space."

The detective nodded. "Good boy, Shippou. And all the kids?"

"They're all alive. Souta counted at lunch one day...I think he said there were 110 or 111 other kids." Shippou looked away for a minute, back at Kagome. She gave him an encouraging smile.

"Where was this warehouse?"

"Uh..." Shippou didn't know. He truly didn't know. But that was one of the things that The Boss told him not to answer. "It was...I don't know. A bad part of the city." That was good enough.

Kori scowled. That wasn't very helpful. "How did you get back here from the warehouse?"

"Someone drove me a little ways, so I got a little lost and confused about where we started, then he dropped me off. And pointed in the direction of Inuyasha's house. I walked all night."

"They let you go?" Kori asked. He hadn't believed it when Kagome had told him that Shippou had said that.

The redhead nodded slowly.

"Why?"

Shippou paused for a minute.

Then his eyes watered up.

He couldn't remember!

"Wait..." he whispered out loud. "Where are my clothes?"

Kagome stared at him for a minute, startled by his odd request. Then she stood up and pulled a bag off of a side table, containing the clothes Shippou had gotten after being kidnapped. The little boy eagerly grabbed the paper sack and ripped through it, trying to locate something.

Then he had it. Shippou took it out and triumphantly held up a folded piece of paper.

Kori eagerly reached out to snatch it from his hands, but Kagome got to it first. "He wanted us to know something, and he didn't want to expose himself, so he sent us Shippou to give us a letter." Kagome thought out loud.

Just as Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku arrived in the doorway, Kagome unfolded the letter and began to read out loud:

"Kagome Higurashi, you have your son and if you want to guarantee the survival of your brother and the other children in our care, you must deliver to us, upon arrival of the information of location and time, the Shikon no Tama.

Look for our next contact, and have it ready."

And that was it.

"...what...?" Kagome whispered, stunned. They wanted what? The Boss wanted what?!

And then she began to cry.

"How can we give him the Shikon?" She hiccupped. "I gave it away after Naraku died, to a museum, I don't have it! They don't have it! They sold it! I can't...I can't give it to them. Then the kids will die...and it'll be my fault and..."

Her voice broke off in a sob. The Shikon no Tama! How would she find it in time before the kidnappers contacted her again, expecting to get it?

"We have to track it down," Kagome whispered.

"No we don't."

Kagome snapped her watery azure eyes onto Inuyasha. "What?" She choked out, her voice hoarse. He wanted her to forget about it, and leave the kids...Souta...to die?

"We don't have to go track it down...because I already have it."

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A/N: O.O;;


	18. Saving the Kids

I won't waste time apologizing, the chapter will serve as a sorry...heh.

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Aftermath's Destruction

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Last Chapter

Her voice broke off in a sob. The Shikon no Tama! How would she find it in time before the kidnappers contacted her again, expecting to get it?

"We have to track it down," Kagome whispered.

"No we don't."

Kagome snapped her watery azure eyes onto Inuyasha. "What?" She choked out, her voice hoarse. He wanted her to forget about it, and leave the kids...Souta...to die?

"We don't have to go track it down...because I already have it."

End of Last Chapter

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Chapter Eighteen: Saving the Kids

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"_What do you mean you have the Shikon no Tama?" _Kagome's stormy eyes bored into Inuyasha's.

He felt unusually uncomfortable, and rightly so. He could feel every eye in the room on him, including Miroku and Sango's eyes on his back. Even the half a dozen or so cops were looking at him expectantly.

"What I mean when I say I have it, is that I _have _it," Inuyasha told Kagome irritably.

Kagome's hands were shaking, so she curled them into fists. "But...Tsuyu, she said that the museum I gave it to...that they sold it."

"And I bought it," he said bluntly.

"But..." Kagome swallowed. This wasn't making sense. "I swore I told you, I told you the same day I heard about it, and you didn't say anything."

The entire room was silent. Half because they didn't want to interrupt, and half because they wanted to see how it turned out. It was like Inuyasha and Kagome were in a whole other world, like they couldn't see or hear anyone else.

"Look, maybe I was just trying to find the right way to tell you!" Inuyasha snapped. He didn't do well when pressured.

"That doesn't matter! You _know _what that jewel did to me. You know what it did to Naraku! It was a big part of my life, and I deserved to know that you had it. And the worst part is that you didn't even say anything when I mentioned it!" Kagome hissed. This entire time she hadn't even raised her voice, afraid that if she got too loud she'd lose it.

Inuyasha winced like he was slapped. "Its my business what I do with my money, not yours."

Kagome uncurled her fingers from the fist and then back again, looking away.

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_Flashback_

..._Kagome finished drying the plates and moved to the stove to heat water for spaghetti. A thought struck her and she turned around quickly. "Hey, Inuyasha?"  
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"Huh?"  
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"Did you know that someone bought the Shikon no Tama?"  
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"Really?" Inuyasha answered faintly, his mind on the talk he had had at lunch.  
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Kagome sighed and gave up her attempt to start a conversation with her friend, and began to cut up herbs to add to the sun dried tomato sauce..._

_End of Flashback_

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Kagome was sure of it, she had told Inuyasha and he'd waved it off like it was no big deal. But...that she would have to deal with later. Taking a few deep breaths, Kagome reminded herself that Inuyasha having the jewel was actually a good thing...

...a very good thing.

"Inuyasha...?" Her voice was gaining strength, and hope.

"What?" He answered gruffly.

"You have the Shikon no Tama..." Kagome said slowly.

"Yeah."

"So we can give it back to the kidnappers and get back Souta...get back all the kids." Kagome finished, her confusion and anger with Inuyasha waning away as hope took over her face, making her cheeks red and her eyes bright.

Inuyasha clenched his jaw. "No, we're not giving it to them."

Kagome snapped her eyes to him, looking lost. "We have to. We give it to them and we get my boy back, and I'll have my family again. I want to have Souta and Shippou together again."

"Kagome..." Inuyasha said her name slowly, his eyes serious. "We're not giving them the jewel."

She stepped forward uncertainly, not understanding. "Why shouldn't we?" Kagome insisted, ignoring all the cops and her adopted son behind her. "If we give them the jewel they'll give us back the kids! They'll give back Souta! I want my brother back, Inuyasha, and we have the Shikon and we can just-!"

Inuyasha growled in his throat, stopping Kagome's happy bubbling. "Do you really think they'll give us back the kids once they have the jewel?"

Kagome frowned. "What do you mean...of course they will! It said so right in the-!" She pointed over her shoulder at the note laying on the floor. The note from the kidnappers.

Inuyasha shook his head violently. "They're _criminals, _Kagome. They aren't just gonna hand all the kids over after all that hard work. They're gonna keep the jewel _n' _the kids."

Kagome interrupted him angrily, "But they said-!"

Inuyasha grabbed her by the forearms and leaned down to stare the young woman in the eyes. "Get this into your head," he said slowly, their noses nearly touching, "these men kidnapped over a hundred kids just to get to us. One hundred and TEN, Kagome, just to make it down the list to you so that you could hand over the jewel."

"I know, so they'll-!"

"No, Kagome. They knew that I had it, even though you had given it to the museum after Naraku died. Why wait so long just to kidnap those kids when they just needed the jewel from you? Why kidnap Souta and Shippou last?"

"Because they—they!"

Inuyasha's eyes burned intensely, and Kagome couldn't even blink at she looked back into them, they were dragging her in. She leaned away from him, but he kept a harsh grip on her arms, making her sure they'd bruise.

"They took all those kids because they don't just want the jewel, they took the kids so they could have the sweatshop _and _the jewel. Why give one up? Huh, Kagome? They're goin' to keep both because you were too _stupid _to realize it was a trap."

"Inuyasha," Kagome pleaded desperately, "you're hurting me..." Inuyasha guiltily loosened his grip but kept her there. "Please, Inuyasha. You don't get it. We have to get Souta back. They-!"

"Kagome," Miroku said, finally stepping forward and Kagome jumped, for the first time noticing that he was there. "Kagome, Inuyasha's right. I hate to say it...but if we play by their rules, we won't win."

Sango was on Kagome's side. She was a firm believer that someone couldn't be completely bad on the inside, but she was starting to see that Miroku and Inuyasha might be right. "Kagome-chan..."

Kagome wrenched her arm out of Inuyasha's hand and stepped back. Why couldn't they see? Getting the kids back was all that mattered, what was wrong with them all? She had to be the only sane one there! They wanted to just leave the kids to rot in a sweatshop.

She'd been without Shippou and Souta for two weeks, just think about the mothers who'd lost their children over three months ago! Kagome couldn't even fathom what it was like for them. She knew they'd all agree with her, so why couldn't her own friends see?

Inuyasha recognized the look in her eyes, and it made his heart ache. Kagome looked wild, almost violent. The thought of getting her brother back was taking up all her sense and she was thinking about doing something stupid.

His mother had looked like that when his father had died. Without Inutaisho Youkai in her life, Izayoi Youkai had a broken heart and was never the same...until the day she died. Inuyasha couldn't stand the thought of Kagome being like his mother, feeling like she was alone even though she was still surrounded by people who actually loved her.

Like Sango, Shippou, Miroku. And him...Inuyasha too.

Ignoring everyone else who was still in the room with a stubborn persistence, like they didn't deserve his time and energy, he gently tugged Kagome to him and wrapped his arms around her. He could deal with the blow to his pride later.

"We'll get them back." He promised her.

"We'll just have to find another way," Miroku muttered, already deep in thought.

Sango stared at Inuyasha before turning on all the staring cops. "All of you, out! Don't you have a conference about this, or a meeting at the doughnut shop or something? Come on, out. Out!"

A few of the policemen stumbled up immediately, noticing that Sango was a bit of a force to be reckoned with. The rest of the cops looked to their leader to get permission to leave. Detective Kori nodded to them and they began to file out.

On his own way out, the detective glared over at Kagome, who was still wrapped up, and turned to Sango. "I expect you to know that we're the ones in charge and will come up with a solution, not you."

"I doubt you would expect us to be any other way," Sango shot back, watching happily as the last of the government workers left...except Miroku. He stayed. Sango just couldn't seem to get rid of him...

"Lady Sango...this is a troubling situation," he murmured, looking up at his girlfriend. She stood an inch taller than him in her large black boots. Leather did look good on her...

"I know, Houshi-sama, I know..." She looked worriedly at her two friends, who seemed too out of it to realize everyone had just left. Or even that there had been anyone there in the first place.

"Any ideas, my love?"

Sango sighed and racked her fingers through her smooth hair. "We need to go back home, tell Kohaku, Kanna, Sesshoumaru-sama, and Kagura-sama. As well as Kaede-sama and Higurashi-san."

"And see if any of them have any ideas?" Miroku asked.

"No...to tell them that Shippou is home safe and sound," the brunette cast a look over at the hospital bed where the little boy was fast asleep, his energy completely wasted.

Miroku nodded and slipped his arm around Sango's waist, for once not letting it go lower. "Come on, lets go and tell everyone."

They left, leaving Kagome with Inuyasha and Shippou and headed towards the Youkai Manor.

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Sango knocked on the door, tapping her foot impatiently. A few seconds later she could hear the tap of high heels coming towards the door and she grimaced. Sounded like Kagura was wearing heels in the house. Sesshoumaru wouldn't be too happy about that...

"I thought I told you that I didn't want to buy anything," Kagura snapped before she'd fully opened the door. A second later she saw that Miroku and Sango were standing there, staring...

Kagura hadn't met either of them during the time Naraku was around, but she'd spoken on the phone to Sango a few times while in Paris. Kagome also talked non-stop about the couple.

"Hello, Sango-san, Miroku-san...what can I do for you?" Kagura asked politely, not overly friendly.

It was just in her nature to not trust people so completely.

"Could we come in?" Sango asked in the same tone. "Miroku and I have news to share with you and Sesshoumaru and the kids..."

Kagura winced. The way Sango had worded that, it'd sounded like it was her and Sesshoumaru's children. Yuck. "Come in," she opened the door wide and stepped to the side.

Sango and Miroku slipped off their shoes and tucked them in a corner, putting on the two pairs of slippers they left there. They visited enough to have their own. Their actions reminded Kagura that she shouldn't be wearing shoes inside the house, but after being in France where it hadn't mattered, she always forgot about it.

"News, you said?" Kagura called over her shoulder, leading them towards the kitchen where Sesshoumaru was watching Kanna and Rin color pictures. "Sesshoumaru came home early when Kagome and Inuyasha had disappeared from the office, does this have to do with them?"

Sango nodded, "But its good news." Her and her boyfriend sat at the counter, next to Sesshoumaru. They each gave the other a polite bow. "Shippou is home," the brunette finally said simply.

Kagura paused from where she was reaching for her drink. "He's back?"

Miroku grinned. "Yeah. They found him passed out in front of the Sakura Hide-Away this morning. He's dehydrated, and has a nasty cut...and is quite exhausted, but he's alive."

Naraku's ex-coworker digested the information for a moment."That's...that's wonderful!" Kagura said finally, allowing a smile to flash onto her youthful face, lighting her scarlet eyes up. "He's home?"

"At the hospital," Sango corrected. "And will probably be there for a few days."

"I'll pay for it," Sesshoumaru inserted, looking for all the world as indifferent as you could be. "And that is good news."

Sango looked at Miroku and they shared a large smile. "Inuyasha and Kagome are with Shippou, that's why they left work."

Sesshoumaru nodded, seemingly finding this a good enough excuse to leave a business in the middle of the afternoon. Rin and Kanna chattered happily from the floor where the sketchpads and crayons were.

Kagura was the first to notice.

"How's Souta?" She asked suddenly, finally making the connection in her head that the couple had only mentioned Shippou.

Sango sobered. "We don't know...Shippou came with a note from the kidnappers, saying that Souta and all the kids were alive. We know that all the children are in a warehouse in downtown working in a sort of sweatshop..."

She took on a bitter look and curled her fingers into a furious fist. What were children doing in such a think? Those horrible men...If she ever got a hand on them...

Miroku reached out and grabbed Sango's hand. His calmness started to seep into her. "Kagome...said that the note also asked for the Shikon, saying they'd make a trade."

Kagura suddenly snorted, tossing her head with a sneer on her face. "Don't they know that Kagome got rid of the damn thing after it almost got her killed? For such careful criminals, they don't seem to have much of a brain..."

Sango winced. "Apparently--,"

"Inuyasha bought the jewel just after Kagome gave it to the museum," Sesshoumaru interrupted. "He has the jewel."

Miroku turned brilliant purple eyes on the older man. "How do you know? _Kagome _didn't even know."

Sesshoumaru set a burning glare on the government worker. "I do take care of the bills and money in this household, and I myself deal with my brother's paychecks. I have known."

Sango gaped at him. "And you didn't tell Kagome-chan? Sesshoumaru-sama, you know how that stupid jewel screwed up her life, how could you keep it from her that it was with her again?"

"It was my brother's business," he answered bluntly. "Inuyasha isn't the best thinker, but I expected him to have found the correct answer to this. I guess he did not..."

Miroku resisted the urge to rub his temples. "Sesshoumaru-sama...You should know by now to never let Inuyasha think for himself on an important situation. He almost always makes the wrong choice."

"But that is how he must learn," Sesshoumaru drawled, going back to watching his adopted daughter draw and color a kitten...riding a motorcycle. His brother had too much influence on the innocent little girl...

"Kagome's not happy..." Sango muttered.

"I bet not," Kagura said sourly. That man was not good for Kagome, she decided. All Inuyasha did was make her life more complicated. Although...he was doing better than Naraku.

...

Then again, any man would do better than Naraku.

'I wonder if Kouga is still around...' the red-eyed woman mused.

"What is Kagome-sama planning to do?" Sesshoumaru asked respectively. Kagome seemed to be the only one to get that sort of respect out of him...

"We...don't know. Kagome-chan was a little –hysterical- at the thought of getting everyone back in return for such a small price. Inuyasha had to get her to understand that it was likely a trap. I think she's a little confused now...no one knows what the best plan of action would be." Sango said finally.

"We could use the Shikon as a bargaining chip for a little while. They seem to want it as much as the kids for the sweatshop, so maybe we can buy some time. The kidnappers are supposed to contact Lady Kagome when they're ready for the next step," Miroku added.

Sesshoumaru nodded and the whole room went into silence as the adults thought over their options.

Rin, however, was happy making 'vroom vroom' noises as she colored the motorcycle red. Kanna thought that the kitten looked a tad bit evil...

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It had been an hour since Kagome's near-break down. She was curled up in an uncomfortable chair in the waiting room. With some more information, she was finally able to understand some of what Inuyasha was saying.

The kidnappers had taken so many kids before Souta and Shippou because they had planned on the sweatshop as their prime income. They were getting the money by in some way using the kids, but they wanted more. So two weeks ago they moved on to step two...

Take Souta and Shippou in order to get to her...and the jewel. Just giving them the jewel didn't mean that Kagome would get all the kids back. They'd want both things. The sweatshop and the jewel.

So they were at a standstill as far as Kagome would see.

They wouldn't give her the kids 'til they got the Shikon no Tama, and she wouldn't give up the jewel until she had all the children.

At least they wouldn't hurt the kids. That was almost certain...if they hurt any of the kids, it would cut down on whatever they were making in the sweatshop.

So where did it go from there?

Maybe, Kagome thought, I could pretend to give them the jewel and get one leader trapped. Then we'd get the location out of him...

But...What if the only thing keeping the kids all alive and safe was the head guy? 'The Boss', as Shippou called him? Maybe The Boss was the only one of the seven bad guys that would keep the children all alive.

If Kagome helped the police nab one of the bad guys, what was saying that the others wouldn't freak out and starting killing the children just so there would be no evidence behind?

Earlier, Inuyasha had asked Shippou what the boss guy looked like, but the kid had just shuddered and locked himself inside. Maybe the mention of the man who kidnapped him, or the memory of his face scared the redhead so much...or maybe he just couldn't talk about The Boss.

Kagome was infuriated! How dare some moronic bastard harm her Shippou in any way?! He was just a little boy! _Her _little boy! How could someone be so cruel? Was there really people like that out there?

Naraku...

Naraku had been a horrible man. Terrible and hideous, harming her repeatedly. Bruising her, abusing her...but he had never, _never_, touched the boys. Naraku, the worst part of Kagome's existence, had never harmed her boys. Not once.

And here she was --again in a situation that made her want to crawl under a rock and sob and hurt someone at the same time-- and she couldn't do _any_thing this time to make it better.

Before, she had been able to build up her courage and run to keep her little family safe. This time her family was torn from her, Shippou was hurt, and she didn't have their support.

...

"Inuyasha?" She called suddenly to the man sitting across the room from her, his hands stuffed in his leather jacket, a disgruntled expression on his face.

"Yeah, K'gome?" He looked up, his eyes telling her he was still worried about her.

"After this...I never want my life to be dramatic anymore. Never again. I hate drama...I want a boring, normal life when this is all over and done with," Kag told him vehemently.

He surprised her by laughing. "Trust me Kagome, you won't want a dull life...after being in one full of adventure, you'd be dead bored with anything else."

"Hm," Kagome hummed, believing he might be right.

She did know one thing for certain though.

She had Shippou back. Her baby boy who'd been the highlight of her life. She'd get Souta back too...

She'd save the kids if it killed her.


	19. A Family Reunion

Noo! I know, it's been so long! Forgive me! Please!

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Aftermath's Destruction

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Last Chapter

He surprised her by laughing. "Trust me Kagome, you won't want a dull life...after being in one full of adventure, you'd be dead bored with anything else."

"Hm," Kagome hummed, believing he might be right.

She did know one thing for certain though.

She had Shippou back. Her baby boy who'd been the highlight of her life. She'd get Souta back too...

She'd save the kids if it killed her.

End of Last Chapter

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Chapter Nineteen: Reunion Between Family I

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"Mama?"

"Honey! What is it, Kagome?"

"Mama…Its Shippou…"

"Oh dear…what's going on?"

"He's back. Mama! Shippou's back! We have one of our boys back!"

"Is he hurt? Is he okay? Kagome, dear, where are you?"

"At the hospital in Tokyo, Mama…" Kagome gave out a sob, half a laugh.

"Oh honey, I'm coming," the familiar loving coo of Kagome's mother told her.

Kagome cradled the pay phone almost lovingly, like it was her mom's hand. "I'll see you as soon as you get here. I miss you."

"I know, I miss you too, dear. I'm on my way, as soon as I can. Don't expect me too soon, you know how there's always something that keeps a mother away when she wants to be there most…" There were tears in Mrs. Higurashi's voice. Saying her quick goodbyes she hung up the phone and threw off her apron, heading to the car.

On her end, Kagome put the receiver back on the wall and turned from the wall and faced Inuyasha. She gave him a watery smile and wiped away a few tears. "She's coming."

"I noticed," Inuyasha tilted his head down the hall toward the hospital room where Shippou was. The little redhead was currently downing half the hospital's supply of food, all the while managing to look cute.

Kagome was close to skipping when she headed back to her adopted son. Half of her was still mourning the lost of her brother, while the other half was happy just to get Shippou back. Her vow to save all the kids was still fresh in her mind, and her heart was gaining strength as she sub-consciously started to plan on how to do it.

Her mouth was curling up in a smile, but her eyes were dead serious. She'd get her boys back…and she'd sure as hell take down the ones who took them away from her.

Inuyasha kicked the door open with a foot and stepped back to let Kagome walk in first. Slouching after her, he collapsed on a chair and glanced at the clock. It was almost dinner time and they'd been in that drab white room since noon. He hated hospitals.

Kagome perched on the end of the bed and grinned down at Shippou, poking his sides and laughing when he giggled. "Shippou-chan! What are you trying to do, eat the hospital out of house and home?"

"Food," he gurgled, shoving down another few bites of rice. "I'm hungry!"

"I know, keep eating." She hadn't stopped smiling since he'd waken up again, and Kagome felt like her cheek muscles were going to be permanently damaged. It took all of her self-restraint not to reach up and massage her face back to normal. Busying herself with plucking at the sheet, she waited for Shippou to finish his meal.

A few minutes later a plate with some food left on it was shoved under her nose. "Okaa-san, have some food! You've gotta be hungry too, ya' know?"

Kagome delicately plucked the plate from Shippou's outstretched hands and ate some before setting it aside, settling both of the males' nerves. Kagome hadn't even touched food since she'd shown up at the hospital.

"Shippou…" she started, grinning at her son and patting his knee through the bedding. "Your grandma's coming. She'll be here as soon as she can."

"Really?" His eyes widened bigger bigger until they were big green saucers. It amazed Kagome how easily he got over his fear and sadness. Why couldn't little things like a meal and a visit from a grandmother make everyone that happy? Then again…after all he'd been through, Kagome wasn't sure they were little things to Shippou.

"Really," she told him in a sing song voice, pinching his cheeks. He swiped her hands away with a laugh. It felt good to laugh, he thought.

"When do I get to see everyone else?" Shippou asked eagerly. "Kohaku and Rin and the others?"

"Kagura and her little sister Kanna are here visiting too," Kagome told him. "And Sesshoumaru's still around, and you didn't really get to see Sango or Miroku earlier. But we'll all see each other soon. I swear."

Shippou grinned. "Hey Okaa-san…?"

"Yeah?"

"Is there any more food, I'm still hungry."

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Sango collapsed on the couch back at Miroku's home, bringing a hand to her forehead. "It hasn't been the entire day yet and I'm already worn out!"

"I know what you mean," her boyfriend told her solemnly, seating himself next to her a little more elegantly. "I hope Kagome remembered to call her mother, we wouldn't want Higurashi-san to not know what was going on."

"She would have remembered…Kagome and her mom are close." Sango whispered the last part more to herself, remembering old times when she and _her _mom had been close. Staying up late without her father noticing, whispering secrets like they were best friends. In fact…they had been best friends.

Miroku placed a hand on her knee, for once not having any hidden motive but to give the love of his life some comfort. Squeezing it in a gentle way, he leaned back into the couch, closing his eyes. "Where's Kohaku?" He asked after a minute, frowning at the silence.

"With everything going on I forgot to tell him!" Sango's eyes shot open and she leaned forward, like she was about to get up. A split second later she settled back down. "He went to a friend's after school, I guess I can tell him when he gets home."

"He'll be glad to hear Shippou's back home."

"Everyone will be happy he's back, moron," Sango countered, smirking. "Except for his kidnappers."

"No…they'll be happy, too. Now they can be sure that Kagome has the note and knows what they want." Miroku reminded her, just short of wagging a finger at her like he was scolding a child.

Sango tsked and rolled her eyes. "You know just as well as I do, even if they wanted Kagome to have that damn note they'd be upset over having to get rid of one of their workers."

"Ah, but the satisfaction of going through with the Shikon Jewel plan should be more than the unhappiness at losing one of many workers. Even more so that Shippou was small and already hurt, meaning he couldn't have been such a strong worker," he shot back, a smile playing at his lips.

"But they're evil, evil people. Evil people deserve to be feeling more over failure than satisfaction," Sango told him wisely, continuing the battle of wits.

"Ah, but are they truly evil?" Miroku asked seriously.

"They kidnapped 112 children from their homes. They sure as hell aren't angels," Sango growled, her hands balling up into fists.

"One can not be completely made of darkness," Miroku nodded sagely. "There has to be good in a person some where. Such as Naraku never abused the kids when he did Kagome."

"He may not have abused them physically but he sure did mentally," Sango muttered. "And what can be so good about this 'Boss' person?"

Miroku frowned and closed his eyes in thought. "Maybe…the fact that he will not allow his partners to kill the children. Didn't Shippou say something about the Boss being angry when any of the other children were beaten?"

Sango took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Miroku wasn't pissing her off, but their conversation was. She leapt up from the couch and looked around, flexing her fingers. She needed to go and do something with her hands to keep her mind off things.

Without a goodbye to Miroku she rushed off and looked for something. Finally laying eyes on Kohaku's current project.

It was a shining white wooden plan. Her brother had already built it, gluing and nailing all the pieces together. But the process of painting it wasn't done.

'That'll do,' Sango thought, sitting down on the ground and crossing her legs, picking up the paintbrush. A little red there, a little blue here…

She sat in the corner for a couple of hours, painting away at the large wooden plane. Successfully getting her mind off the kidnappings, but letting it drift to other things. Like how Kohaku was so into models from doing them with his dad so often when he was just a little boy. How Sango would sit on a stool and admire the father-son relationship.

The three of them would be in the basement, working away at a new project all the time. Dozens of trains and cars littered the selves, and still they made more. Sango offering decoration advice, or how to make it more stable by placing a certain nail in a certain place.

Their mother would come downstairs periodically to praise them, giving them a warm smile and disappearing a bit to just come back with snacks.

It was the Taijai thing. It was Sango's family bonding time. Sitting in the warm basement, working on all the projects. Chatting away and sometimes forgetting the plane or train all together.

Sango sat there for so long, working on the plane that Kohaku had left on Miroku's apartment floor. She was so sucked into the painting, and the memories, that she missed her boyfriend coming in to check in on her.

She missed Kohaku coming home and finding her, thinking of the same old family memories. The memories that the siblings both thought were lost in the same fire that had killed their parents.

Miroku drew Kohaku aside and told him about Shippou, and the two males ended up eating in the kitchen, so as not to disturb Sango in the dining room.

She accepted the dinner they offered without looking up.

And by the time she was done painting the plane that Kohaku had built she felt a lot calmer.

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Kagome was curled up in one of the hospital chairs, her feet tucked under her. It was late, and her mother still hadn't shown up. Probably traffic.

Inuyasha was snoring in the previously empty hospital bed, and Shippou was bundled up under all the sheets, the machines around him beeping.

Kagome drew her drawing pencil down against the sketch pad. The charcoal rolled over the rough paper, leaving a thick line behind it. She lifted her hand and tilted her head before drawing another line, and then sketching a few thin strokes near the top.

Moving quickly she worked on her sketch, making it come together to form a face, with a sharp angular jaw. A strong jaw. A few more strikes at the paper and there were unruly bangs over a tall forehead; then some long flowing hair that looked soft to the touch. A disgruntled mouth, and closed eyes.

Aha!

A sleeping Inuyasha.

Complete with a frown, and titled 'Keh!' Kagome grinned at her drawing.

Then…slowly…it was like the sketch was coming to life…

Inuyasha's head was topped with silver dog ears, and he was pinned to the tree. The Goshin-boku. The same tree that Kagome had dreamed of pinning him to three months before, when she was trapped in the situation with Naraku. When she had felt that she'd never get out without hurting her friends.

A few quick steps forward and Kagome was nearing the tree. The wind blew softly, shifting both her and Inuyasha's hair. The wind shifted through the trees…Kagome realized she was surrounded by trees. The Goshin-boku was the same, but her shine wasn't anywhere near her. Just trees…lots and lots of trees…

Kagome climbed up some large, overgrown roots and up to Inuyasha's level. Looking around to make sure no one was there, she reached up to touch the ears that were not there in real life…

…closer, and right as her finger tips touched-

-her mother showed up.

"Shippou!"

"Grandma!"

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Mhm…short chapter, but its out none-the-less. I've finished cleaning up all my oneshots, four still need to be uploaded to ff. net, but its being difficult lately.


	20. Interlude

I'm not dead. I am, unbelievably, alive. I can't stand how I've become one of those authors who never update their stories. I haven't seen an episode of Inuyasha in half a year, and right now, I can barely grasp what my own story is about.

But I will re-do and fix all the chapters, and I will continue with this story. I'm starting back in nice and slow, so this is going to be a small chapter. But at least I'm starting to actually do something…

This is basically going to be a recap chapter and an interlude so that we can all get caught up with what has been going on. Please, please… if you notice something off, tell me. WARNING: I'm going to be using a lot of flashbacks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

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Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Twenty: Interlude

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Kagome hung back from the group as she watched her mother embrace and cuddle the little redheaded child. She sighed, her blue-gray eyes troubled. How could she have taken moments like these for granted before? The sweet times in life when family was able to love and take care of each other were the most precious. 

From now on, she knew, that whenever she was with her friends and family she would always think about what if something were to happen. What if another person was taken from her? Would she ever be able to enjoy life again, or would she always be too worried?

"Hey, you ok?" Asked a gruff voice as Inuyasha jostled her with his elbow.

"…Yeah," Kagome answer reluctantly. "I'm fine." She forced a smile as she looked up into his concerned eyes.

He didn't believe it for a second. "Sit down," he ordered, "I'll go and see if I can get some food for dinner, it's almost that time."

"Ok," she replied gently, watching him leave. Finally making her way over to Mama and Shippou, she hopped on the bed and felt it bounce lightly under her. "Hi, Mama."

Mrs. Higurashi smiled that 'mother' smile that lit up her doe brown eyes, and leaned forward to wrap her arms around Kagome's shoulders. "Oh, my dear, I missed you."

"I know, Mama, I missed you, too."

"I missed her!" Shippou announced, climbing into Kagome's lap and settling there.

"So we've established that we all missed each other!" Mrs. Higurashi announced with a soft laugh and another smile.

Kagome slipped her small hand into her mother's and they all sat on the bed looking thoughtful… until, that is, Shippou couldn't stand it any longer. "Was it real boring having me gone?" He asked innocently. "Like as boring as this is right now?"

"Terribly," Kagome answered with a dramatic flare, resting her hand on his tiny shoulder. "We were just about to _die _from boredom. No one around here is any fun at all!"

"I knew it," the redheaded boy said proudly.

"Kagome, dear…" Mrs. Higurashi started hesitantly, speaking to her daughter but looking at Shippou. "I… I would like if we could talk." Alone, she added silently.

"We are talking, Mama," Kagome said, an edge to her voice. She tucked a strand of her hair behind an ear before sighing heavily. "Shippou? Go outside and find the nurse, she should be just right by the door. Get her to help you find Inuyasha, ok? Then help him pick out what we're all going to eat for supper."

Shippou grinned and bounced off the bed, as energetic as ever. Both women watched him go before turning back to each other, one pair of eyes prodding while the other remained avoidant.

"Kagome…"

"Alright, where should we start?" She interrupted.

"At the beginning. We need to get everything out in the open and explained so we can start to figure out what to do," Mrs. Higurashi stated firmly. The two made themselves comfortable.

"Let's see," Kagome started. She rubbed behind her neck for a minute before finally forcing herself to start. Maybe Mama was right. If she talked and got it all out, a solution would show itself. She might even end up feeling better. "I guess the start would be when I was Inuyasha's house, two weeks ago. I'd gone over there to get away from work and the boys and watch a movie. And the next morning, the call came. It was Sango."

_"Moushi moushi! Youkai residence, can I help you?"_

"Kagome?"

Said girl frowned into the phone. "Sango?" she asked uncertainly. It sounded like her friend...only this time the brunette sounded frantic and worried.

A pause passed as the young woman on the other side of the line yelled something to her blue-eyed friend.

Inuyasha whipped around just in time to see Kagome go limp and to catch her.

The last words that ran through Kag's crowded mind were the echo of Sango's previous statement.

""Oh Gods! Kagome! You have to get here! I've been trying, we've all been trying, to find you! Something happened to the boys!"" Kagome repeated dully what Sango had said. It was as if she had the words memorized by heart.

Mrs. Higurashi reached over and patted her daughter's hand comfortingly. "It's okay dear, you got through it."

I did, Kagome thought. After that, she and Inuyasha had rushed to Sango's and had found the entire place crawling with policemen. They were searching the area and Kagome had instantly felt an internal warning bell sounding. "At Sango's, the policeman that helped us with the Naraku case was there, Detective Yagi… He told us what happened. He was so genuine…"

_"Well, 110, now 112 counting your son and brother, children have gone missing." Detective Yagi filled in._

Kagome felt her heart sink. "Yes," she squeaked.

"They aren't... aren't... normal kidnappings, though." The policeman struggled for the right words. "In the last month, 112 children ages six to thirteen have gone missing all over Japan. Each kidnapping was carefully thought out, executed flawlessly. Details were known horribly well about the children and their families."

Kagome nodded glumly. They weren't dealing with amateurs she figured. "Why Shippou and Souta? And how and when were they taken?" her brow creased with frustration.

"We, the cops, are still trying to find the connection between the kids."

"Mama, 112 kids, can you imagine? What kind of a monster would take one kid from his parents, let alone over a _hundred_!" Her fingers curled into a fist and her fingernails bit into the soft flesh of her palm. Kagome took a deep breath and forced the rage to fade.

Her mother reached forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing her thumb in soothing circles. "I know, sweetie, I know. People can be terrible sometimes… So you found out the kids were gone…"

Kagome sighed and hung her head. "Then came the reporters. They were everywhere-- asking all these questions. Nonstop, I mean. The flashes of cameras with haunt me for life, I swear."

"Don't insult people, Kagome, the reporters were just doing their jobs," Mama reprimanded softly.

Kagome rolled her eyes. Yeah, their jobs as blood sucking evil _vampires_, she corrected in her head. "And then after that, I just lived life, I guess. Or tried to, I mean. Inuyasha made me move in with him… Oh, the joy," Kagome said snidely.

"_Home? Wait, where are we?" Kagome looked out her window and then reverted her azure gaze back at him. "Inuyasha... we passed my place ten minutes ago. What did you mean by 'home'?"_

"Easy. My home, where you'll be staying for a while," he kept his purple orbs on the road ahead of them.

She gaped at him. "I'm not staying there! I have my own home, what if they call!"

He sighed. "Look, Kagome. While you were upstairs, Sango, Miroku, Detective Yagi, and I all talked about what would be best for you. They don't want you staying alone, so you need to stay with one of us. Sango is housing almost two dozen cops at her house, and I don't think you want to live with Miroku."

"So that leaves you." She said slowly. "But what if the boys call? I need to be home!"

Inuyasha glanced at her out of the corner of a lavender eye before taking better care of turning onto his driveway. "In fact... I was the one who asked that. They'll have a technician brought in to trace all calls directed from your house to Sango's, and mine too. That way the police will always know if the kidnappers contact you."

"I swear that man's goal in life is to drive me insane until I die," Kagome muttered.

"Or do whatever he can to protect you," Mrs. Higurashi replied gently. She and her daughter's eyes met. Kagome's dropped first.

"Sango and Miroku have been helping me a lot. They're so supportive. That, however, does not change the fact that they drive me nutty when they're together. They have so many corny romance lines that they should write a book…" she grumbled, rolling her eyes for added effect. "… Kagura also came. She's been… so helpful. I mean, even after Naraku, she's kept in touch. It's almost like have a protective older sister who knows everything. I still can't believe she left hiding in France to come here to be with me."

_Kagome scrunched her eyebrows together in concentration before they lifted in realization. "Kagura?"_

_  
"Of course," the scarlet eyed woman drawled._

"Hey! I haven't heard from you in two months!"

"I know," Kagura muttered, reaching down to hold Kanna's hand so as not to become separated from her in the crowd. "Sorry about that."

"No problem, just glad to hear you're doing okay," Kagome happily leaned against the kitchen wall. "You are okay, right?"

_  
"Yes. I have a surprise for you," Kagura remarked casually._

"Really? I love surprises!"

Kagura chuckled, "I know."

"What is it?"

"You'll have to wait. You can see it tomorrow morning."

Kagome giggled. It really was a surprise. She'd been expecting something in the mail. A letter or a package or even another call from Kagura, but to find the woman herself standing at the door? It was priceless. Having all the support she could at the time was crucial.

She stopped for a second, a wave of guilt washing over her. If Kagura got caught by the police… they were, after all, still looking for her as an accomplice of Naraku's. Kagura was being so unselfish, how could Kagome do that to her?

"Kagome…" Mrs. Higurashi tapped her daughter's hand until the blue-eyed woman was brought out of her thoughts. "Go on with your story."

"…Right. I was getting so much support from everyone. Even Sesshoumaru didn't mind having me live there with him again. I can't believe everyone's so…"

"They love you, dear. Just like I do. We all care about you. You've had to put up with so much that we're just worried what would happen if you thought for one second you were alone in this. You're not."

Kagome felt her lips curl up in a real smile. "I love you guys, too." Tears stung her eyes but she fought them until she was sure none would fall. "I've been so out of it lately. I have these terrible mood swings and I'm always so sensitive and…"

"That's ok. Anyone would be if their brother and son were taken from them. You're _allowed _to be sad, Kagome. No one's blaming you. If you cry, you will always have a shoulder to cry _on_."

The tears did eventually fall. And Mama was there with her shoulder and her kind words.

"I think you don't have to finish what happened after that. Now you can just tell me what's going on with Shippou right now," Mrs. Higurashi smiled mentally, feeling that although it had made Kagome sad… talking about the past week or two had made her realize how much everyone was there for her.

"They let Shippou go so he could bring me a note… all the kids are alive."

"Thank the heavens."

"They want the Shikon no Tama in exchange for Souta and the other children."

"That's ridiculous!" Mrs. Higurashi started, her eyes gaining that motherly fire. "You don't _have _that silly jewel anymore. You got rid of it months ago, after Naraku… after he died."

"I know… but, apparently," Kagome's tone darkened, "Inuyasha bought it from the museum without telling me."

Her mother blinked… "Wha—when?"

"A while ago," Kagome frowned. "He and Sesshoumaru both never told me."

"That's absurd, they both need a--"

"Mother talk them later, Mama, please." Kagome grinned. It was wonderful that someone took her side on the issue. The jewel had been a big part of her life. It had been involved so deeply with the Naraku situation that she deserved to know why and when it came back into her life. "They want me to deliver them the Shikon, which they somehow knew Inuyasha had gotten, by the time they contact me next."

Mrs. Higurashi opened with mouth… paused… and then shut it again. She turned her child's words over in her head and thought about all the information on the kidnappers that she'd been given over the past two weeks. "Obviously, you can't give them the jewel."

"I…" Kagome stopped. What had she been expecting? To be honest… for her mother to agree with her. Mama agreed with her on so many things and they were so close… It was hard blow. She was officially wrong about how she thought to handle the situation. Inuyasha could argue all he wanted, but she never would have fully believed him until her mother finally said her piece…

"Yes, Mama, we won't give them the jewel."

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…That was an unbelievably short chapter, huh? But it's something. And a nice recap about everything. I feel more caught up now, don't you? 


	21. Set Up

…Yeah, yeah, I know I'm incredibly lazy. But, I'm here now, and I'll finish this by the end of the summer if it kills me. My writing has evolved and hopefully gotten better since the posting of the last chapter; the final chapters will probably read differently than the others.

This will be a full chapter with the "chapter teaser" from last time worked in.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

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Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Twenty One: Set Up

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Kagome's mother reached over and tugged her daughter into her arms loosely; the two women leaned into each other, offering what small comfort they could under current conditions. Mama bent down and pressed her lips to Kagome's temple reassuringly, one hand stroking her daughter's coal black hair just as she had done when Kagome was a little girl. Neither said a word, knowing there was nothing that could be said that the other didn't already know.

They weren't dealing with this alone.

They had each other.

Somehow, things would be worked out in the end. They had to.

Their moment was cut short abruptly, however, when the hospital door swung open and Inuyasha stalked in, Shippou wrapped in one arm while a pile of pizza boxes balanced on the other. Both boys looked annoyed.

"Kagome!" Shippou whined, clawing his way out of the man's hold. "He's being a jerk. Again."

Kagome shot Inuyasha a clear look of resentment for stirring up trouble. Scrambling out of her mother's embrace in favor of getting close enough to her housemate to poke him repeatedly in the chest, she snapped accusingly, "Shippou's barely home and you're already aggravating him. I can't believe you!" Shippou slipped behind Kagome's leg and peeked out from behind her knee to stick his tongue out at Inuyasha triumphantly. "Can't we have a nice, quiet family meal before we take the next step in this kidnapping mess?"

"No," Inuyasha grunted before sliding around the girl and setting the boxes lightly on the side table. An enticing aroma of melted cheese and tangy tomato sauce drifted by his nose, and it was all he could do to keep from ripping the top box open.

"Excuse me?" Kagome asked in a voice that told him that she clearly had not liked what he said and was hoping, the second time around, what came out of his mouth would be different.

Instead of repeating himself, he went on.

"Detective Yagi just called. The old man says we have to go down to the precinct to try and figure out what to do. Grab what slices you want, and you can eat in the car."

Kagome eyed Inuyasha, gauging his seriousness. "When are they expecting us?"

"Five minutes ago," he grumbled, jingling the keys in his pocket impatiently. "They think we've already waited too long to get a jump on things."

"It hasn't even been a full day yet! Why do they want _us_ there?" Kagome looked more than a little peeved at the thought that she was being torn from Shippou's side so soon after his return, only to have to sit with a group of cops late into the night.

But, she reminded herself, that group of cops would be planning on how to get her Souta back. She had done all she really could do for Shippou at the moment, and what needed to be done if she left, Mama would handle.

It was, she decided, actually a good thing that they were going to try and take care of the situation as soon as possible.

Inuyasha shrugged, obviously not caring to elaborate. Kagome figured it was because he probably didn't know himself… either that, or he was just keeping his mouth shut because he knew it irritated her. Whatever the cause, she knew she wouldn't find her answers from him.

She also figured that the only reason why he wasn't complaining about having to go to the precinct was because the hospital was driving him crazy. He'd been muttering about the harsh smell of disinfectant since they'd arrived, not to mention he looked antsy to go out for awhile. Even if it was just to the car, then he'd be stuck in another building for a long time.

He didn't do well with the feeling of being trapped.

She sighed and glanced at her mother. The two women mirrored the same look of weariness, their similar features twisted with the worry that had been plaguing each for days.

Smiling gently, her eyes softening, Mrs. Higurashi reached down and lifted up Shippou. Cradling the small boy in her arms, she told her daughter, "Don't worry, I'll look after him."

It was a useless statement, everyone in the hospital room knew. Kagome would always worry, whether she wanted to or not.

Inuyasha threw on his own coat before snatching up Kagome's. "Here," he said, tossing it to her, "we need to get going."

Catching it by an arm and letting the coat trail on the floor, Kagome cast a fleeting look towards her mother and adopted son that said plainly, _save me from having to sit with _this _in a car for the next half hour_. Neither got the message and waved her off sweetly. "Well… help yourself to the pizza, I guess. Don't let Shippou eat too much, Mama. I don't even think pizza is allowed in a hospital." She saw Inuyasha look away innocently from the corner of her eye.

"I will dear, you go and have fun," the eldest Higurashi replied.

Kagome slipped into her winter coat, knowing that fun was probably the last thing she should expect, and waited in the doorway for Inuyasha to grab one of the boxes of pizza. The two walked out of the room together, the door swinging shut behind them.

* * *

Detective Yagi shuffled the papers lying on his desk, consulting the facts for the umpteenth time that day. The words were beginning to blur across the page and he had to rub his eyes a few times to get them in focus. The nights since this case dropped on his desk had been long and sleepless. He was nearing his breaking point, and he knew it. Working with Detective Kori, the unfeeling officer officially in charge, was a pain in the ass to put it lightly. Not to mention the fact that the distraught parents were starting to lose hope, while a few had become reckless in their attempts to find their children.

It was already late in the evening of the day that Shippou Higurashi had been located, and Yagi wanted nothing more than to let everyone get some well deserved rest. Kori would not hear of it; he had demanded an immediate meeting in light of the latest developments.

Kagome and Inuyasha would be there shortly to sit in on the meeting with some of the officers working on the case to discuss their options. Kori, obviously, hadn't been told that the pair would be there, since he felt it was completely unacceptable to have outside help aid the precinct. Yagi would deal with him only after it was too late to send Ms. Higurashi and Mr. Youkai away.

With any luck, some good ideas might be discovered with everyone working together.

A knock signaled someone waiting just outside the door to his cramped office. One of the secretaries from the reception area popped her head in, a headset wrapped around her head. She blinked rapidly, adjusting her eyes to the dim lighting. "Detective Kori just called in. He said not to expect him at the meeting; he's chasing some other leads."

Yagi waved her away, and she left, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Well, that dealt with that problem.

Shoving the scattered papers into a folder, he tucked it under his arm and made his way to the briefing room down the hall. Collapsing in his seat at the head of a long table, he collected himself.

Frankly, the entire situation was a mess. One hundred and eleven children were still missing, and the only good thing that had happened so far was Shippou's reappearance. If the boy was correct about the head of operation being a building downtown, the kidnappers were covering their tracks well. All business owners' papers had checked out, and there hadn't been any obvious complaints filed that could point out the correct facility.

Whatever leads Kori was talking about were complete bullshit. There were no leads. Yagi had chased every last one down himself. If it weren't for the overwhelming amount of children missing and the note given to Shippou, it would appear that nothing was out of place in the city at the moment.

Studying the wall across from him silently, Detective Yagi waited for the other members of the meeting to arrive and settle into their seats.

* * *

The meeting had been going on for at least an hour and by that point all of the officers were either throwing out half developed ideas or disputing another's. Every suggestion had some kind of underlying problem, but that wasn't surprising. A perfect solution wasn't expected to just drop into their laps.

"Miroku and Sango might have come up with something since we've last seen them," Kagome finally brought up, fatigue starting to darken her features. "They were going to drop by Sesshoumaru's…" she trailed off, chewing on her bottom lip as she avoided looking into the faces of the others scattered around the table.

Yagi tapped his pen on the tabletop before turning away, shaking his head. "Sorry, Miss Higurashi, but we're already crossing the line by allowing you and Mr. Youkai to sit in on the meeting." He paused, then carefully added, "I'd appreciate it if you ask them, however, on your own time. We could use any help we can get."

"Well," an older officer, grizzled from many years on the force, interrupted the two. He leaned back and sighed heavily, the chair shuddering beneath him.

Everyone turned to eye him expectantly.

"We could put a watch on several children around the city that fit the profile of the others abducted, and hope for the best. If one's taken, we could track them to locate the others."

Immediately, several people erupted in comments and criticisms. Kagome was horrified to see that many of them were actually considering such an insane idea. Her hands twitched under the table as she tried to relax, but she couldn't help sending accusing glances around the table. These men couldn't seriously be talking about using children as _bait_, could they? Heartless, cold…

"How would we get the man power to look after that many households?"

"But no children have been abducted since the Higurashi boys, what if they've decided to make do with what they have?"

"There's nothing linking the kidnappings besides the wide range of age, how would we know who to stake out?"

"Do any of you have children?" Kagome asked suddenly… softly. Several of the policemen stopped discussing the idea and turned to look at her curiously, wondering why she'd asked the question so unexpectedly when she'd barely spoken a word since she'd arrived. The older detective grumbled about having her cut short the debate that had followed his suggestion.

Yet, there were those in the room who looked back at her with sympathy crowding their eyes. These were the ones with children, Kagome realized. They were the ones who spent the meeting half tuned in, their minds reeling at the very idea of their own family being taken from them. These were the officers who tackled the case with a different motivation than the others.

Kagome appealed to them now.

"What would you do if your son or daughter was kidnapped? Would you sit quietly in a briefing room with a dozen policemen and specialists and sit back while _they_ discuss what to do?" She continued, her eyes shining with something akin to resolve. The thought that they had been talking about using children as bait just a few minutes before had drove her wild, fighting the weariness that had been weighing her down. It sparked a maternal fire in her chest, making her sit up straighter and eye the men and women around her with scorn.

"If my daughter was kidnapped, Ms. Higurashi," Detective Yagi began after a pregnant pause, aware that the people working around him were now distinctly uncomfortable, "I would track down the perpetrators and rip them to shreds only after I'd done terrible things to them. I know where you're coming from and what you're trying to say to get us to understand," he stopped again, trying to find the correct way to word what he wanted to say. "However… we're coming at this from our job's point of view, not a parent's."

Kagome nodded, knowing she couldn't question this logic reasonably. "I know. Just keep in mind how all those parents out there are feeling. Right now, just remember that it's your _job _to do what they can't. Find those kids and rescue them." She ended her little speech with a withering glance at the officer who'd made the suggestion that had set her off in the first place.

He didn't appreciate it. He was, after all, just doing his job.

After a few expressive glances between one another, the men and women in the room nodded cooperatively toward her. Settling back into scattered groups, they continued to discuss what they could do that would result in all the missing children being brought home safely. Minutes, then another hour passed, but no one had been able to offer up a realistic suggestion.

Kagome had cradled her head in her arms, starting to really wish she'd stayed at the hospital with her mother and Shippou. The meeting was starting to seem fruitless, and she'd rather be getting some much needed sleep. She could barely remember everything that would need to be done the next day; people needed to called, Shippou deserved a real welcome home, and she needed to discuss the situation with her friends.

The jewel brought nothing but pain and trouble wherever it landed, she thought. She had half a mind at the moment to just give them the damn Shikon and allow it to bless the kidnappers with its curse. Then all they'd have to do was follow its wake of destruction to track them down.

The young woman suddenly sat up, reaching out and clutching at Inuyasha's shoulder. He turned to look at her, his normal level of irritableness much higher on account of having his time wasted by the cops.

"Why don't we give them—?"

"No, we've been over this," Inuyasha cut her off gruffly. He didn't even wait for her to complete her question before going back to doodling on the pad of paper in front of him. "We're not giving them the damn jewel!"

"Let me finish," she snapped impatiently, vaguely aware of the others in the room turning to listen in on their argument. "Why don't we give them a _fake _one?"

"And watch them kill all the children when they find out we double crossed them?" one of the cops ventured, looking sour. Almost everyone in the room was about ready to call it quits for the night.

"I know they'd probably recognize a false one, but what if we could create one that looked real enough that it could fool them for just a few hours? We could put a tracking device in it, and then tail them back to where the children are," Kagome pressed, leaning in eagerly towards the center of the table in the briefing room. It wasn't quite the same as following a trail of destruction as she'd been jokingly thinking about earlier, but it was close. A few of the cops exchanged looks.

And they weren't all doubtful ones.

"What if they don't take the jewel directly back to the sweat shop?" A woman asked.

"Then at least we know where one of the kidnappers is. If one's arrested, they'd be able to tell us where to find the others. They'd know, wouldn't they? No one would be allowed to handle the jewel unless they were one of the people in on the whole deal, right?" Kagome personally thought it was at least worth considering.

Everyone rolled the idea over in their minds, contrasting the good and the bad... was it worth the risk? Could it actually work? At least it was something new.

"Why don't we stop for tonight," Yagi finally said. "We can all think on it, then meet again tomorrow afternoon. Kagome, get some thoughts from your friends, and I'll ask around the department to see if anyone knows anyone who could create a replica of the jewel. Someone should also consult Detective Kori. We'll discuss this more then."

Obviously having been dismissed, the team stood and stretched. Leaving the room individually or in pairs, the room emptied slowly until only Yagi, Kagome, and Inuyasha remained.

"Thank you," Yagi said quietly, regarding the couple in front of him. "I know it's late and we probably should have left you guys alone for the day."

Kagome smiled at the detective, then reached over and patted his elbow in a friendly manner. "I'd do anything to get Souta back. Then there's the whole fact that we don't know when the kidnappers will contact us and ask for the trade, so we should probably figure out what we're going to do beforehand."

The two men nodded in agreement. Inuyasha retrieved their coats, handing Kagome's over. He shrugged. "Wanna go home? Or…"

"Hospital," Kagome finished, preferring the later. "If they won't let us sleep in Shippou's room, we can sleep in the car."

Inuyasha tried hard not to make any snarky remarks about the long night they were in for, he really did. Before they'd reached the car, a few had regrettably slipped out.

* * *

It turned out that the hospital didn't find their request to sleep in Shippou's hospital room that night entirely reasonable. An elderly nurse ended up having to shoo them from the waiting room, all the while muttering about how visiting hours were over and they would just have to come again the next day.

Wandering back towards the car, taking their time, Inuyasha slung an arm around Kagome's small shoulders and squeezed. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to the house?" He asked it as much for his sake and he did for hers. It was, after all, freezing, and as much as he wanted to stay near Shippou, he also wanted a warm bed.

He knew her answer before she even opened her mouth.

"I'd rather sleep in the car. I mean, what if… what if something goes wrong? I want to be here for him." Kagome stopped at the back fender of the vehicle and leaned against it, glancing up at the night sky. A few stars twinkled lazily back at her, but most were invisible against the light radiating from the city.

Inuyasha paused at her side, but eventually joined her… although not without a longing look towards the warm interior of his car. He bumped his shoulder into her gently, asking, "You okay?"

She didn't answer. Watching the stars, Kagome saw a few blurs become pale smears against the inky blackness. Bringing her hand up to her cheek, she rubbed at the tears in frustration. It seemed, to her at least, that something was always happening in her life to make her weepy and overemotional.

But… she was a heart on her sleeve kind of girl.

She suddenly wished that she could run… run far away from all these problems. When Naraku had ruined things all those months ago, that's how she had handled it. She just picked up her boys and took off; hoping against all odds that she could outrun what her life had turned into.

Now, she couldn't just leave. This time, if she left, she'd be failing Souta.

But that didn't make the impulse any less.

If there was anything good about all this, it was that Inuyasha was seeing her at her worst. Seeing her at her worst and not ditching her, that is. This proved that no matter how much he complained about crying women being the bane of his existence, he couldn't have minded so much.

It always surprised her how supportive he could be when things got really messy. Most of the time he was so immature and rude, that she almost saw him as a different person in bad times like these. For most things, she'd noticed, he denied there was a problem at all. He got angry if you tried to point out that something was wrong, then he pretended like it wasn't there.

Even now, she thought he wasn't taking everything as seriously as she was. He was almost trying to make everything out to be less than it actually was. But, she pointed out to herself, suddenly feeling ashamed for thinking of Inuyasha so badly… he was being incredibly helpful for the time being.

For instance, even as he was grumbling curses beneath his breath about her inability to keep her eyes dry, he was looking for something to give her to wipe those tears away with.

He didn't have any real obligation to stay by her side and let her wipe her snot all over his coat sleeve.

But he did it anyway.

That had to mean something, right? Oh, granted, she'd always known he'd found her attractive. He was actually a lot more transparent than he prided himself on being. Yet, it was one of those general senses of attraction. He hadn't technically acted on it, and then they became friends.

Good friends.

And that sense of attraction he had for her? All it caused now were a few moments of awkward moments or, even, some friendly teasing.

Kagome stifled a laugh, shivering slightly at the chill winter breeze pushing inside her coat collar.

One of these days, she thought wryly, one of them needed to find the nerve to make the first move.

* * *

A/N: Can anyone help me by telling me what day the next day would be in this story? Also, could you point out any mistakes and plot holes I happened to miss? Suggestions are completely welcome, too, since the ending of this story isn't exactly set in stone.

Oh… Then there's the whole thing about how when the rest of this story was written, I did a piss poor job of putting everyone in character. Now that I actually want to attempt that, if I make them more in character, then they'll be different than they were in the beginning of the story.

Help?


	22. Killing Me Softly

I reread some of the earlier chapters with the hope of getting a feel for where I was going with this story, and my writing really embarrassed me. Ok, I lied, this story didn't get finished before the end of summer, and I'm still alive. The way I figure it, there's five chapters left after this.

But we're getting there, I swear.

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Twenty Two: Killing Me Softly

* * *

Kagome squeezed her eyes tight against the rays filtering in through the dirty window. She hunched further into her winter coat and wrinkled her nose as it dipped beneath her collar. Her entire body was sore from being folded up to fit into the passenger seat of the Mercedes.

Noises from outside the car were starting to register in her brain, and she vaguely recognized car doors slamming.

"Inuyasha?" she mumbled. No answer. She tried again, this time raising her voice louder than it had been, but still barely above a whisper. "Inuyasha…?" When she didn't hear anything in return, she lifted her head, but quickly ducked back down when the morning sun blinded her.

When the splotches of colors behind her eyelids faded, Kagome glanced into the backseat where Inuyasha had stretched out last night.

It was empty.

Kagome sat up straight and unfolded her legs. Finger combing her hair with one hand, she attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes with the other.

Where could Inuyasha have gone? Obviously not far if he hadn't taken the car. She tried to shrug off the feeling of abandonment that his disappearance gave her. It was ridiculous. He had been more than helpful lately, doing so much to make her life easier in her time of crisis. Not to mention the night before last when he let her sleep in his bed when she couldn't fall asleep on her own.

Her cheeks warmed over a little at the memory, feeling silly for what she'd done. Telling herself that if it had really bothered him he would have vocalized any complaints, loudly at that, she opened the car door and climbed out.

Looking around the hospital parking lot, Kagome picked her way over the piles of snow and made her way to the entrance. The doors 'swooshed' open for her, activated by the sensor. Something told her the woman manning the front desk wouldn't help her based on how Kagome had yelled at her the morning before in her rush to get to Shippou.

Kagome shifted her weight from foot to foot while she stood in the waiting room. She tried to remember when visiting hours started, but the information just wouldn't come to her. Groaning, she fisted her hand against her temple, urging herself to think harder.

"Hello," someone acknowledged quietly behind her.

Kagome turned around and saw the nurse from yesterday, clipboard in hand. The taller woman was scanning a list with serious gray eyes, her uniform seeming sophisticated and less stereotypical than it looked on every other nurse in the hospital. A lock of black hair fell over the shoulder of the white shirt, the loose ponytail it belonged to not containing it very well. Kagome felt immature next to the dignified looking woman, yet also comforted by Kikyou's calm persona.

"Oh! Hi, Nurse Kikyou," Kagome greeted politely, trying to smile amiably.

"I suppose you would like to visit the child you came here for yesterday?" she asked, looking up from the clipboard for a moment. Gray eyes clashed with blue.

"I… I know it's not exactly visiting hours, but I'd just really like to see him if I could," Kagome explained quickly, her voice squeaking. Nervously, she twiddled her thumbs.

Kikyou frowned. Well, more like her lips thinned. She didn't appear angry, just thoughtful. "Why don't you take him to a more private hospital where you and his other family members can move in with him? It would probably make it easier on all of you."

"I was hoping to just bring him home," Kagome responded honestly.

Kikyou flipped through the papers in front of her, pausing once she reached a certain one. Her eyes ran down a list of abbreviated 'doctor talk.' What little Kagome could see from her vantage point made no sense at all, and Kagome gave up trying to understand what it was saying. After a few seconds of silence, in which Kagome had started to fidget once more, Kikyou nodded to herself. "He seems to be fully hydrated and the cut on his arm does not seem to be infected. He will be released shortly, it looks like."

Kagome could practically feel her happiness bubbling over, trying to emerge in a shout of glee, but she contained it. She didn't want to lose it in front of Kikyou, after all. "Thank you," she told the nurse. Waving a small good-bye, Kagome started in the direction of Shippou's hospital room.

* * *

Several miles away, Sango was awake and having a discussion of her own.

"Do you think it would really work, Inuyasha?" she asked as she leaned against the kitchen wall, the phone cradled between her ear and shoulder. As she listened patiently to her friend describe the police meeting from the night before, Sango thought over the plan Kagome had come up with.

So many things could go wrong with it, she thought. Her major concern was that they didn't know how much time they had before the kidnappers wanted to do the trade. When the men called Kagome and set up a time and place, would the police have enough time to create a fake jewel? Then, during the trade, the kidnappers were bound to be overly suspicious and cautious. Sango didn't expect them to make this easy.

Miroku stumbled through the archway across from her, his longish hair knotted from sleep and his eyes hazy. He scratched absently at his ear and smiled at her, waiting until she grinned back before looking for something to eat for breakfast. The man rummaged through the cabinets, making a racket.

His girlfriend tuned him out, using the skill she'd honed over the many years of knowing him. Honestly, Sango wanted everything to work out, she really did, but it was hard to be optimistic with so much on the line.

"Alright, Inuyasha, I'll tell Miroku about all this. We can talk to your brother and Kagura. … Of course I'll tell everyone hi from you… Yeah, sure. Hey, give Kagome a hug and a kiss from me… No, of course, I'm not serious. I don't want you to actually give her a hug and a kiss… What do you mean, what did I mean? I meant for you to— I give up! I'll talk to you later."

By the counter, Miroku was chuckling over what he could hear of the conversation. Deciding that they really needed to do some grocery shopping, he reached into the refrigerator and pulled out the first thing his hand wrapped around. He started to open it but stopped when Sango cleared her throat loudly behind him.

"What?" he questioned, turning around to face the brunette.

"I really don't think you want to drink soy sauce," she told him, pointedly quirking an eyebrow at the bottle he was holding.

Looking down at the object in his hand, Miroku frowned. "Oh."

* * *

Inuyasha hung up the pay phone and stepped back into the hospital lobby. Running a hand through his long black hair tiredly, he sighed. Life was, he thought, so much easier when his only worry was pursuing Kagome.

Well, that and helping his brother run their company.

He would never have imagined in all of his wildest dreams when he was a little boy that by this age he would be who he was. For one, being without both of his parents by only his mid-twenties… it was enough to make the most optimistic of people have a little doubt. Another thing was the fact that he was sharing the responsibilities of taking care of a corporation with his once hated half brother. The amount their relationship had grown since childhood was incredible.

And a little unbelievable, now that he thought about it. How long had it been since they'd had a real fight? Suspicion tickled his mind, but he shoved it aside before he got paranoid.

Kagome was something he wouldn't have expected either. She drew trouble like honey attracted flies. Well… trouble and cops. Most of her problems ended up with a shit load of police swarming around her. The idea that he might just be head over heels in love with her made things even more complicated.

They really needed to talk.

Oh, but he hated to talk! Words weren't his thing; they never were, and they never would be.

He walked through the automatic doors of the hospital, momentarily blinded by the sun peaking over the horizon. Cupping a calloused hand around his eyes, he scanned the parking lot for Sesshoumaru's Mercedes. The car glinted back at him from halfway across the lot, looking sleek and shiny against all the cheaper automobiles parked around it. But when he peered through its window, he forgot all about the outside of the car. It was the inside that was worrying him.

"Damn it, Kagome, where'd you go now?!" Stamping his foot in frustration and huddling further into his coat because of the cold, Inuyasha scanned the parking lot for the second time in as many minutes. There were a few people nearby, mostly nurses and patients, but no sign of his friend.

He really hadn't been exaggerating when he complained about how much trouble she was.

Sloshing through the snow piles, he re-entered the hospital. His best bet on finding Kagome was to check Shippou's room, he decided, so he headed in that direction. When he turned the first corner, he bumped into someone coming towards him.

Reaching out a hand to grab her elbow to steady her on her feet, he muttered a quick apology.

Nurse Kikyou gently pried his hand off her arm and nodded to him politely. "If you're looking for your girlfriend, she's already made her way to the boy's hospital room."

"She's not my girlfriend," Inuyasha corrected automatically, a little bitterly.

"Your sister? Your friend?" Kikyou sighed, "I don't have time to guess, and it makes little difference– I have several patients to see." She walked around him, the heels of her shoes clicking dully against the tile floor as she left. Inuyasha watched her leave, almost feeling as though he and the nurse would have gotten along in another lifetime.

Shaking those thoughts off, he turned the way opposite from the one the nurse had chosen and finished the short trek to Shippou's hospital room.

Seated in the visitor's chair, her elbows propped up on the edge of the bed, was Kagome. Inuyasha sighed and entered, closing the door behind him. He went to stand behind her. "How's he doing?" he asked, seeing that Shippou was still asleep.

"Fine. He's not dehydrated anymore, so I guess I should be able to take him home sometime today. The doctors are a little worried that his arm might get infected, and they're surprised he didn't suffer anything from exposure while wandering in the snow."

Inuyasha grunted. Despite his lack of response, Kagome could feel the happiness radiating from him. It still surprised her how emotional he was without ever being a touch-feely, heart-on-his-sleeve kind of person.

Hesitating for a fraction of a second, Inuyasha reached out to place a hand on Kagome's shoulder. Before he made contact, however, the hospital room door swung open. Quickly, he dropped his hand and stared at the intruder.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Sesshoumaru raised a perfectly defined eyebrow at his younger half brother. "I came to visit Shippou and offer my congratulations to Kagome."

Kagome jumped from her chair and bowed low to her boss. "Thanks, but… uh, how'd you get in here? You're not immediate family and it's not visiting hours."

The older man stared down at her blandly, as if to say, '_Who would dare tell me where I cannot go_?' Kagome backed off, but smiled affectionately at him. Sesshoumaru ignored her familiarity with him and walked to the end of Shippou's bed.

"He's better, I think he'll be able to go home soon," Kagome told him, standing at his elbow.

"Good," Sesshoumaru returned bluntly. "Should I arrange transport?"

"What the hell for?" Inuyasha asked irritably. He was feeling ignored, which made him feel belittled, which in turn made him very angry. Most things ended that way.

Kagome narrowed her eyes at her friend and pursed her lips, silently telling him to shut up and be grateful. "That would be great, Sesshoumaru, but we still have your Mercedes here with us. If you don't mind, Shippou should be fine riding home in that."

"Ah, yes, I remember," he replied vaguely. "If that's all…?"

Kagome smiled and bowed again.

"I will be waiting at home. I don't think I should leave… that woman in the house unattended for very long." Sesshoumaru's lips dipped even further downward than usual as he spoke of Kagura. Having finished the visit in record timing, ever the efficient one, he walked back towards the door. As he was about to shut it, he tossed casually over his shoulder, "When you're done with my car, Inuyasha, I expect it to be washed."

Growling in the back of his throat, Inuyasha opened his mouth to let loose a string of objections, but the door snapped shut before he had a chance. Kagome giggled silently at him behind his back.

* * *

Kagome's hand hovered over the doorknob, uncertain and torn about what she was about to do. A part of her urged her forward, telling her that she had every right to look for and find the Shikon jewel, but another part reprimanded her. She would be violating Inuyasha's privacy if she went ahead and did what she wanted to do so badly.

'Do you really think he cared about what you would feel when he bought that damn thing?' a small voice questioned her, coming from somewhere inside.

Shaking her head, Kagome tried to dislodge the voice. It didn't work. "I shouldn't go into his room when he's not even home," she whispered harshly to herself.

'That jewel has plagued you since day one. It's a representation of all your mistakes and faults, it embodies the worst part of your life… you need to confront it if you want to get over everything!' the voice retorted.

"I'd rather curl up and cry than look at it," Kagome muttered. "I'm supposed to be here getting the house ready for Shippou." Guilt twisted her insides, and she looked over her shoulder. If she wasn't careful, Kagura or Sesshoumaru might come down the hall and see her hanging around outside Inuyasha's door and wonder what was going on.

'Just get in there, find it, look at it, and get it over with,' the voice ordered impatiently.

"Curiosity killed the cat," she said in a final attempt to dissuade herself.

'But satisfaction brought it back.' The inner voice cackled with glee as Kagome's hand closed over the doorknob. Twisting it before she could chicken out, she slipped into the room and shut the door behind her. Flipping the light switch on the wall next to her, Kagome looked around at the cluttered room. Inuyasha's scent slapped her in the face, making her feel even more remorseful about invading his space.

How much time before Sesshoumaru wondered where she'd gone? How much longer until Inuyasha called from the hospital, saying that Shippou's release was final and they were on their way home?

Kagome sucked a breath in through her teeth and steeled her resolve. All she wanted to do was see the tiny, purple jewel.

Pulling open a desk drawer, she shifted the clothing inside, trying not to blush when she noticed she was poking around in his underwear drawer. Unsuccessful, she tried the next drawer down… and the next. The nightstand was a no-go, too, as was the closet. Anxious and disappointed, Kagome tried looking under his bed. Nothing but dust bunnies and dirty socks.

Maybe she'd had it wrong, Kagome thought. There was no guarantee Inuyasha had stashed the jewel in his room, but she was certain that he wouldn't put it in the family safe. Failure weighed on her mind. Kagome slipped out of the room as discreetly as she had come in and shut the door behind her.

She didn't even notice that she'd left the light on.

* * *

The party was in full swing. Sango and Miroku manned the food table, alternating between serving drinks to others and groping and hitting one another. Shippou sat in a chair in the middle of the TV room like it was a throne.

Kagome's coworkers and volunteers who manned the front desk at the Sakura Hide-Away mingled together, all of them brought together by the joy of having their friend's little boy back home. The group clucked worriedly over the boy, who, despite his mischievous grin, was much paler and thinner than he was before he was kidnapped. Even his green eyes were a bit dull.

His arm hung in a sling around his neck. A doctor had explained to Kagome that he needed to wear it to make sure he didn't move his arm around too much, which would irritate the wound.

"Hey, brat," Inuyasha called as he ruffled Shippou's red hair. "Need anything?"

"Nah, I'm good," Shippou answered, looking smugly at his hoard of welcome home gifts. "Have you seen Kagome?"

Inuyasha's grin tightened, and he looked away for a moment. "Not for awhile."

The little boy sulked, thinking that he'd give up the entire room of well-wishers if it meant he could sit in his adopted mother's lap. He could easily imagine her running her fingers through his hair as she told him a story… shaking his head, Shippou sighed to himself. He was a smart boy, whether other people realized it or not. He knew that Kagome wouldn't fully be herself until Souta was returned safe and sound.

A cup of chocolate milk was shoved under his nose. Shippou stared at the hand, recognizing the slim fingers and blood-red nails. He followed the arm up to the face of its owner. Kagura flashed a half smile at him.

"You look like you could use something sweet, kid," she said, smirking when he took the proffered drink. "How are you feeling; do you need to lie down?"

"I'm fine," Shippou said defensively.

Kagura laughed, her voice low and almost mocking. Shippou shrugged the tone off, knowing that's how she always sounded. "That's good to hear. I saw Kagome go upstairs, I think I'm going to check up on her."

Shippou smiled, glad that there was someone who took care of Kagome. His adoptive mother, he felt, spent too much of her time watching out for everyone else and not enough time looking after herself.

Kagura gripped his shoulder briefly, a gesture that made him feel less like a kid and more of an equal somehow. Then, she frowned and made her way through the crowd, away from him. It seemed like she didn't have to push to get through, that people naturally stepped aside to let her pass. She just had that way about her.

At the top of the stairs, Kagura turned down the hall in the direction of where she thought Kagome would most likely be: an unused guest room that overlooked the garden. Smirking in delight when she saw she was correct, Kagura approached the blue-eyed woman.

"Kagome," she greeted. She paused a few feet away, feeling like something was wrong. "…You okay?"

Without turning to look at her friend, Kagome held up her hand. Clenched tightly in it was a folded letter. Kagura stepped forward and patiently loosened Kagome's fingers so that she could take the paper. Red eyes scanned the words, and her expression darkened.

The kidnappers had made contact.


	23. A Never Ending Dream

Five more chapters, including this one, and then I'll be done, I think. If anyone's still reading this, you might have to remind me of any loose ends I'm leaving untied. I have a general idea of what's going to happen, so if there's any delays, don't let me use the excuse of writer's block.

Shippou came home on a Monday, so the previous chapter took place on Tuesday, so by the end of this chapter, it is officially _Wednesday_ night in this story's world.

**Recap**: Souta and Shippou were kidnapped by a group of mysterious bad guys who have taken many children over the last few months to work in a sweat shop for them. Shippou was finally released, bringing with him a note demanded the Shikon Jewel in exchange for the whereabouts of the children. Inuyasha had actually bought the jewel from a museum several weeks before, but Kagome did not know this up until then. It has been revealed that the head bad guy is Bankotsu, a man Kagome was doing a business deal with earlier in the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. This is being written for my own and others' amusement, not for profit.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Twenty Three: A Never Ending Dream

* * *

"I still don't understand how it got here," Sango muttered, looking from face to face with troubled eyes. She ran a trembling hand through her hair before forcing her traitorous fingers to be still. At the moment, she needed to be strong for her friends. 

They were all crowded into the room that Kagome had been found in, each looking tense and disturbed. Outside those walls, the party raged on while Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Sesshoumaru, and Kagura argued over the best plan of action. Kagome stayed in her chair, hunched over until her bangs shadowed her eyes. Every few seconds, she made a small sound to show she was listening or nodded her head in agreement.

"The note was tucked into the light outside the front door," Kagome explained, her face still aimed at the floor. "With so many people here, I guess we didn't notice our extra guest."

Kagura leaned against the wall and crossed her arms defensively over her chest. "That detective of yours will be here any minute," she reminded them all in a bitter tone.

"Which is why you should be in your room," Sesshoumaru told her. If they didn't know any better, he would have sounded like he was scolding her.

"Running from the police is the least of my worries," the red-eyed woman retorted angrily. She loosened her arms and they fisted at her sides as she advanced on the man. Crimson flashed as her mouth dropped open to--

"Shut up!" Inuyasha snapped. The two immediately returned to their previous positions: their backs set indifferently to the wall as they looked away from anyone in the room. "The note said we had until tomorrow night."

"We need to figure out their clue, first," Miroku stated somberly. The note had been clear about the time they were to do the trade off, but the location had been cleverly disguised in a riddle. The kidnappers were enjoying this way too much, the man decided with a frown that rarely appeared on his cheerful face.

"Kagura, get to your room—no arguments! — Sesshoumaru, go back down and start clearing out the guests, but don't let them suspect anything," Sango ordered, knowing full well that the two stubborn adults wouldn't listen to any more of Inuyasha's requests tonight. She could only hope that they would all do what she told them, though. "Miroku, Inuyasha, go greet Detective Yagi when he gets here."

"What are you going to do, love?" Miroku asked as they all started to file out the door.

"Find a map and see if I can figure out where they want to meet," Sango explained. She followed after the rest, but paused just outside the room. The brunette looked over her shoulder at Kagome, bit her lip, and then shut the door quietly.

Hearing the receding footsteps, Kagome finally looked up. The eyes she'd been hiding from the others weren't filled with tears; they had a determined edge to them. She didn't need a map; she already knew the answer.

It wasn't long before she emerged from the room. "Inuyasha, could I talk to you for a second?" Kagome called into the sitting room. The dark-haired man looked away from the detective and Miroku's discussion long enough to notice that the woman looked worried and… something else… while she stood in the doorway. He couldn't put a finger on what it was, but he had a feeling that it wasn't good.

"Yeah, sure," he grunted as he lifted himself out of his chair. Once in the hallway, Inuyasha followed Kagome to a nearby room where they could talk more privately. He kicked the door shut with his toe once he was inside and faced the distressed girl. "What's wrong?"

She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she eyed her slippers and shifted from foot to foot. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. And then she looked up. "Promise me that you won't do anything reckless," she demanded finally.

Taken aback, Inuyasha eyed her for a second. "Huh?"

"It's just that you always rush into everything without thinking and just this once, I need you to _think_."

"Oh, uh, sure," he was startled into replying before the chance to get defensive and angry could register past his thick skull. But, like always, it eventually did. "And what do you mean I don't think? I always think!"

Kagome heaved a sigh and looked away, wanting to weigh her words carefully, but the heat of the argument and the pure ridiculousness of his question got to her. "You never think," she retorted. "You just go by instincts--!"

"Goin' with your gut is supposed to be a good thing!"

"But not always," the black haired woman reminded heatedly. With a great amount of willpower, she let loose another sigh and released her anger. "Ok, you do think sometimes and your gut can be right on occasion," she forced herself to admit, to placate the raging man in front of her. "I just really need you to promise me this right now."

And he could see that. Her eyes, which always seemed far too wide and deep to be ordinary, were round with silent begging. That other thing they shined with, the thing other than worry that he'd noticed earlier, was still there, lingering just beneath the surface. Even this close, he couldn't figure out what that second emotion was. It was familiar and strong, but not obvious enough for him to understand. "Fine," Inuyasha said after a pause.

"Fine what?"

"Fine, I won't do anything reckless."

"Thank you," his friend told him quietly before leaving the room without another word. He stared after her for several seconds before leaving himself, heading back to Miroku and Detective Yagi. Kagome's swiftly changing emotions were far too hard to deal with sometimes, he decided silently.

If he only knew.

Many hours later and a few doors down, Sango's eyes scoured the map in her hands for the umpteenth time that morning. Well, it could barely be called morning since the sun had yet to rise, but technically…

Miroku was stretched across the length of the couch, his head pillowed in Sango's lap. He snorted and rolled over, burying his nose into her stomach. Without thinking, she dropped the city map with one hand and ran her fingers through the silky strands of his hair. Everyone was sleeping, she thought tiredly. Everyone but her.

"I need to figure this out," she murmured out loud, frustrated when the tiny lines depicting roads blurred together before quickly reforming. Her eyes stung and her head ached and her shoulders smarted from being too tense for too long, but she didn't give up. "Lights are shining overhead, laughing at the murdered dead; overlooking the blood red streets, and a ruined family's defeats; level with an empty sky, this is where you'll say goodbye."

"Kidnappers," a muffled voice grumbled, "should never be poets."

"G'Morning, dearest," Sango said, looking down just in time to see Miroku pull his sleep-dazed face from her stomach.

"Found anything?"

She ran her fingers through his hair one more time since she couldn't run them through her own in worry without making it known how troubled she actually was. "Well, I figure it's out in the open, because the lights would probably be stars, seeing as we're meeting them at night. Unless the lights are actual lights… but I just have a feeling they mean the stars," Sango started, back to staring hard at the map, waiting for something to jump out at her.

"I like your feelings, so go with that," her lover said, laying his head against her knee so he could look up into her strained face. Even fatigued and stressed, she looked beautiful.

"And if it's downtown and you want to be able to see any of the sky, you'd have to be high up since there are so many buildings."

"So… on a roof or balcony, then?"

The brunette hummed in agreement. "I'd say it's one of the taller buildings downtown, so you're high enough to see more than just the tops of skyscrapers. One that wouldn't be too crowded so the exchange wouldn't be noticed, and the kidnappers could see if there were any obvious undercover cops around."

"How would they see that?"

"You're the one in government work," she answered irately. "Wouldn't you know? I mean, undercover cops are probably pretty easy to spot if there's not a big enough crowd to blend into."

"That makes sense, I guess," Miroku mumbled, wary of sparking her ever-flaring anger.

"And since it mentions death and defeat," Sango continued after soothing her easily ruffled feathers, "then I'd bet it's near a courthouse or jail."

"Alright, that all sounds fairly reasonable. Downtown isn't that big, so I bet there can't be too many choices to choose from."

"That's just it, there aren't, but none of them feel right to me."

"At all?"

"Not really."

Silence enveloped the couple for a few minutes as thoughts and ideas bounced around their tired minds. The clock sitting on the desk nearby, for they were in one of the many offices littering Inuyasha's house, was ticking away. What little time given to them was disappearing and both were starting to feel smothered. Why would anyone make it hard to deliver something they wanted? The kidnappers wanted the jewel, so why the riddle making it difficult to get it to them?

"They just want us to suffer," Sango said in a strangled, dejected voice.

"They sure seem to get their kicks out of watching us squirm," Miroku agreed. His expression shifted and he set his jaw. Prizing the map out of Sango's clenched fist, he laid it on the side table and eased her down next to him. "Hey, lay with me for a little while," he pleaded gently.

Already feeling her eyelids get heavier, the woman did as she was told, and slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Outside the room, Kagome wandered down the hall by herself. She slipped into a room and stood in the doorway, tense and still. Her eyes, already adjusted to the dark, scoured the floor.

It was Inuyasha's bedroom.

Blue eyes glanced his way and found him fast asleep. She rung her hands and stepped further into the room. A thought had struck her earlier. There hadn't been enough time to get the jewel to the cops, but that isn't to say that Inuyasha _couldn't_ have gotten it to them. He would want to keep it safe, and where else would it be safest than on him at all times? After the kidnapping business, it was likely that he had taken to keeping all valuable items as close as possible.

So, Kagome began to search the pockets of the pants he had been wearing the day before. Her fingernails scrapped the inner lining clean before she tried the jacket tossed down next to them, but there was nothing hidden in either. Defeated, her shoulders slumped.

She probably looked a mess, she thought, gnawing on her bottom lip and crouching in the darkness on the floor. Frantic and sleep-deprived never did look good on her.

Inuyasha rolled over in his sleep, drawing her attention to the bed. One arm was stretched across the bed next to him, while the other was hidden under his pillow. His nose was wrinkled, his brow creased, and the tendons in his arm flexed. The hand under his pillow must be holding something, she thought vaguely, still kneeling against the carpet.

And then it hit her.

Crawling to the edge of the bed, she slipped her own hand under the pillow while holding her breath. Her prying fingers slid over the cool sheets, inching towards his clenched fist. The seconds stretched on as her hand hovered over his, unsure of how to get the jewel released from its grip without waking him up.

While she hesitated, a muffled voice reached her ears. "Kagome…?"

Her eyes leapt to his face guiltily, but she was relieved to see that he was still half asleep, his eyes clenched tight and his mouth smiling in a dreamy sort of way.

"Kagome, I like you in yellow…" he mumbled.

She shifted uncomfortably, torn between answering him and remaining quiet. Which would nudge him back in the direction of sleep? Kagome waited with baited breath, but he eventually relaxed back against the pillow, his eyelids going soft again. His hand loosened around the jewel. Gently, she pulled the Shikon from his grasp and into her own.

It took only a few more seconds to climb to her feet and edge out of the room.

* * *

Hours had passed. Kagome leaned against the door leading to the roof; a soft breeze picked up her bangs sent them dancing across her forehead. The black of her hair blended with the black of the night, making her feel inconspicuous and almost safe. It was cool out, no longer cold. The air felt dry again after the recent, unexpected snowfall. Very soon it would be sunny, she thought. A jacket hung around her shoulders, but she hadn't bothered to zip it up. 

She was nervous. She was nervous and scared and alone.

…But she'd rather she be alone here, then back at the mansion with her friends. She had fled soon after she had taken the jewel from Inuyasha's room. For a few hours, even after he had woken up, it seemed like he hadn't noticed. She left before he could realize what she had done. The others all looked so tired and forlorn, and she was sick of it. She had known all along after getting the letter that she would make this final leg of the trip by herself. In fact, she had spent the entire night preparing herself. The others must have thought she was depressed and that was why she was quiet.

It was time to end this. Oh, she didn't actually believe it would all go smoothly. With or without the jewel, the kidnappers could never be trusted… but she had to try. Once this mess was behind her, she would settle down and live as drama-free of a life as she could. She was too sensitive for all of this, much too easily worked up.

Life, she thought stubbornly, would be perfect after this. She sure as hell deserved it.

Despite being horrible poetry, the note hadn't been that hard to figure out. Sango and Miroku always over thought everything, and Inuyasha hardly ever thought at all. The police were always a bit slow on the uptake, even with code experts on their side. But it instantly clicked into place for her.

Now she stood on the roof of the building across from the place where she worked. From here, she was just a few stories below the ledge from which Naraku had fallen three months ago. They certainly liked to mess with her, Kagome thought as her stomach lurched sickeningly. She closed her eyes, begging not to relive those final moments of her ex's life.

Fortunately, something came to distract her. It was in the form of a man slamming the roof door open and stepping into the night air.

Kagome blinked owlishly up at him, her brain kicking into overtime to try and process this new development. "Tsurugi, Bankotsu…?" She mumbled, staring up at one of the last people she expected to see.


	24. Deception

I didn't update as quickly as I'd hoped. I wasn't lying when I said I'd finally finish this thing, but it'll take awhile. The final chapters won't be very long, but they will be written in more detail. That just means I'll be able to post them quicker.

My prediction is that there will be 27 chapters total. And then… an epilogue, maybe, if anyone would like one?

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and am merely using the characters for mine and others' entertainment, not to gain a profit.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction  
Chapter Twenty-Four: Deception

* * *

There was no strong rush of air to fiddle with their clothes and hair or a long, drawn-out twang of music like there always was in movies. However, Kagome was fairly certain that this was the final showdown. Bankotsu wasted no time; immediately, his eyes scoured the surrounding area and he latched onto her wrist, dragging her behind the little shack that housed the opening to the stairs.

"Did you come here alone?" he asked with an almost feral grin, his nails digging into her skin.

Kagome was sure her eyes were dazed and confused, considering that was the state her mind was in, but she tried to force herself to catch up. The truth was, this had thrown her for a loop. All this time, she hadn't really thought the kidnappers would be anyone she recognized. But this was even worse: she knew the man, but barely. He was only an acquaintance she had met after the kids were taken, which meant he must have sought her out just to mess with her some more. There had been no reason during their business meeting to really suspect him.

Well, now she knew why the clothes his company was offering were so cheap. When the group making them are stolen children, Bankotsu wouldn't really have to worry about losing any profit on paying his employees.

_Stop thinking about it_, Kagome snapped inwardly. If she started now, she doubted she'd ever be able to stop. _Stay focused_. "No one even knows where "here" is," she finally answered, angry to hear that her voice trembled just a bit.

The man scoffed, not convinced she would have come all alone without telling anyone anything. "Were you followed?"

Her eyes flickered from his face and focused on the faraway rooftop. Across the street and several stories up, it seemed both distant and far too near. Unwanted, the image of Naraku snuck into her mind. For the hundredth time, she stared into his crazed, large eyes and watched the wind from so high up whip his hair across his face. That had been their showdown, she thought bitterly, remembering that she almost hadn't come out of that one at all. "I've gotten pretty good at running."

Bankotsu's grip tightened, if that was even possible, and he leaned against the wall. The action made her stumble a step, but she kept her ground. "My associates and I argued for awhile before coming here. They want the jewel and the children… but I'm a man of my word."

"You'll give me the location of the children?"

"Well, I never said that…" he admonished with a mocking smile in her direction. "But I'll give it to someone."

Kagome had hoped, of course, but her heart still leapt to her throat in response to this. The kids were safe… coming here hadn't been completely crazy after all. Who cared about the jewel? What good would it really bring the kidnappers, anyway? They could sell it; get rich… which could eventually lead to power in the underground. But, the jewel was so identifiable that selling it would only draw attention. They would be fools. So, in the end, who cared about the jewel…

"Alright," she breathed, hardly believing. They would lead themselves to ruin on their own, the Shikon guiding the way.

"Everything good comes with a price tag, Ms. Higurashi." Bankotsu leaned his head back, staring up into the sky. There were no stars; light pollution and a few clouds kept them out of sight. He heard an intake of breath at his side, her sharp gasp at what he was implying. It amused him. Even after all this, the girl could still hope.

It was pathetic.

With baited breath, she waited for the man to explain. Instead, he looked back down at her, his face set and his eyes cold. "Do you have a cell phone on you?"

She nodded quietly and brought it out. It had been resting inside her pocket, turned off so that she wouldn't have to deal with the constant calls coming from her friends. The buttons lit up as the phone powered up. A jingle played while the screen welcomed her, telling her that she had thirty-one missed calls. Her hands paused, waiting for his next instruction.

"Call those friends of yours and tell them where we are." He pulled her around the corner and yanked the door open. "Do it quick; I don't know if you'll get reception in the stairwell."

Again, her breath caught, but she forced it out in a gust. Her fingers danced over the number pad, pressing a sequence of buttons that she knew by heart. In a muffled sort of way, she could hear the phone ringing before she brought it to her ear.

"Kagome--!" Inuyasha sounded so irritated, so worried.

She cut him off quickly. "I've already met with them; we're going to get the location." Silence on the other end. A nudge from her side prodded her into continuing. "Look, I'm on the roof of the building across from work. It was Bank--."

Bankotsu snatched the phone from her hand before she could finish tipping the Inuyasha guy off. "Listen," he muttered into the phone, his eyes narrowed, "get here fast and hopefully the wind won't have blown the paper with the address written on it away yet. And don't worry about your girlfriend, we'll take good care of her."

He dropped the phone to the ground and tugged Kagome through the doorway. She struggled, her eyes wide and her mouth gapping. Sure, now the kids would be going home, but _she_ was being kidnapped! "You can't take me, you don't even know if I have the jewel with me!"

The man shot her a dirty look, frowning and trying to drag her along faster. "I've seen it; you were holding it when I first showed up and you slipped it into your pocket. I don't think you even noticed you had it out… plus, you're such a _good girl_, Kagome. I knew you'd bring it."

On the next landing were two more men. They fell into step behind the struggling pair, following Bankotsu as he led the way to the street. A car waited there, the engine already purring, and a driver waiting behind tinted windows. The thugs opened the back door; one climbed in, Bankotsu lifted Kagome in after him, and then the other brute followed. Sandwiched between her new, massive guards, she watched through narrowed eyes as the man she now hated more than anything got into the passenger seat.

"Take us by the house," he ordered, that feral grin still in place. The driver must have understood this vague order for he nodded his shaggy head and pulled out into the street.

The thug to her left stirred restlessly. "But Bankotsu, that'll take us right by all the cops," he protested.

"Shut up," the one on the right snapped before their boss could reply himself. Kagome slunk down in her seat uncomfortably as the two turned towards each other, carrying on the conversation over her head. "Can't you see he wants to have a little fun?"

Not really understanding, Kagome turned her eyes out the darkened windows, watching their progress through Tokyo. Soon, it was all clear, as she recognized the route they were taking as the one she used to get "home." Bankotsu must have felt pretty secure with his little game if he had ordered the car to drive past Inuyasha, her friends, and what was probably a swarm of policemen.

"You don't honestly think you'll get away with this, do you?" When it registered that that was her own voice she was hearing, Kagome flinched at its shrillness. "They'll find you and--!"

"I doubt that, Ms. Higurashi," Bankotsu countered, casting a triumphant look over his shoulder. "Just like you, we've gotten pretty good at running."

After what seemed like several long minutes, they passed a car that was achingly familiar. Several cop cars followed close behind, the entire procession on their way to the building she had just vacated. Time seem to slow down and pause as the cars passed each other, the others unaware that they were passing her in the night. Inuyasha was the clearest to her; his eyes were dark and his hands were clenched so tightly around the steering wheel that his knuckles were empty of all blood. Against the night, his paleness made him look drawn and like a ghost.

And then time was in a normal pace once more and her hope was locked in the car driving further and further away from her.

* * *

On that rooftop, Inuyasha (who had arrived only after the police had already done a thorough sweep of the building, of course) found two things obvious:

1. The envelope containing the location of the children, which had been written in a tight, slanted writing, had not been removed by the wind. It was, fortunately, still present.

2. Unfortunately, Kagome was not.

The man clenched her broken cell phone in his fist. The triumph of finding out where the kids were was hollowed by the fact that she was not there to share it with him. Vaguely, he could feel Miroku patting his shoulder with one hand while his other was wrapped tightly around Sango. Vaguer still, he could hear the brunette crying angry tears and shouting at anything that would listen.

Kagome had walked into a trap again. And, just like last time, Inuyasha was sure someone would die because of it. Sadly, Naraku wasn't around this time to take the plunge. Pun not intended, of course.

The group huddled together on the rooftop for half an hour, watching the police and other investigative teams search the area for clues or evidence or who-knows-what-else. Detective Yagi stood not too far off, his old eyes flicking back and forth between his men and the distraught civilians.

"I almost feel bad," Sango mumbled under her breath, leaning into Miroku's side, "for leaving it up to Sesshoumaru and Kagura to tell Mrs. Higurashi." They'd left the pair back at the house to hold down the fort.

Miroku nodded solemnly. "Sesshoumaru's lack of emotion and tact might not have been the best idea. Perhaps Kagura will be the one to call Mrs. Higurashi at her hotel?"

"I hope so," Sango replied, staring blandly at the other buildings around them. She cast a sidelong glance at Inuyasha and found him, as he had been since they'd arrived, staring angrily into space. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something, which was rare in itself, but this was no time to make a joke about something like that. Ready to prod him into talking with them, her mouth dropped open, but snapped shut at the high-pitched ringing of Detective Yagi's phone.

All three turned their eyes to the older man, waiting in silence for any news that he could give them. The look that registered on his face after a few minutes of whispered conversation brought Sango's heart to her throat. Her stomach suddenly felt lighter and fluttered around, as though it had turned into a large, lumbering butterfly.

Snapping the phone shut, Yagi approached them. His eyes scoured each face, weighing what he predicted their reactions would be to his news. Apparently satisfied, he smiled.

"I've just gotten a call from the unit sent to the location. All children are accounted for. They're malnourished and a few show signs of having been beaten, but they're all alive."

"Including Souta?" Sango demanded, her reddish-hued eyes eager, but battling against looking too hopeful.

"Yes, Souta Higurashi is safely on his way to the hospital to be checked over before…"

"Before?" Miroku prompted.

"All the children will be reunited with their families, but they all need to be questioned, too. The families are being informed as we speak."

Sango let out a great cheer and threw her arms first around a startled Detective Yagi and then around Miroku. He smiled down at her and smoothed her hair. The couple clung to each other and swung around, hopping from foot to foot as though they could no longer keep still. The nightmare was coming to an end.

But not everyone was celebrating.

"Anyone besides the kids at the sweat shop?" Inuyasha grunted.

"No, and the policeman I spoke with told me that there doesn't seem to be any leads to where the kidnappers might have gone to next."

Her name didn't come up, but everyone present could feel the meaning behind their words in the air. Kagome was still gone, and it didn't seem like they were any closer to finding her than they were half an hour ago. It loomed over them, quieting Sango's whoops of rejoicing and forcing Miroku to look as somber as Inuyasha.

The three made their way to the stairwell, descending past the spot where Kagome's abandoned cell phone had been found and several cops. The car ride back to the house was silent, broken only by the hum of the car's engine and the muffled sound of the city that never seemed to sleep.

Inuyasha walked through his door, kicked off his shoes, slipped his feet into his pair of slippers, and followed the sound of conversation to the kitchen. Miroku and Sango peeked over his shoulder as he looked into the room.

Mrs. Higurashi looked away from the people she was standing with, including Sesshoumaru, Kagura, and the various children the group had (Rin, Kanna, Shippou, and Kohaku), and welcomed the three with a wobbly smile. Tears streamed down her cheeks, making her doe-like eyes seem larger than usual. Inuyasha guessed that she was crying both from the news of Souta and the loss of Kagome.

Seeing Kagome's mother like that made him feel like he had to explain. All he could get out was: "And she'd told _me_ not to be reckless."

* * *

Kagome crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, resisting the sudden urge to yawn or examine her nails. Her earlier terror had been numbed by the sheer dullness of her current position. Once they had made it to Bankotsu's lair, a small factory on the edge of the city own by a fictitious art supplies company, she had been forgotten.

Shut up in a dusty office, she sat in a corner and tried to remind herself that she was in a serious and dangerous situation. But having been locked away somewhere for two or three hours with no further visits or threats, the novelty of being a prisoner had worn off. Every so often the corner of the window set into the door would be darkened by the shadow of the thug guarding the only way in or out. Even that failed to spark any fear in her anymore. The man outside had taken no more notice of her than if she'd been a bug. Even Kagome's rollercoaster moods couldn't keep it up without any provocation.

Clambering to her feet, she brushed her hands over her pants to get rid of any lingering dust. Pacing around the room, she scrutinized everything within reach. Not much… except… there was a phone…

Shaking her head, Kagome scoffed at herself. They wouldn't have been thick enough to lock her up with a way to reach the outside world. Sure enough, when she looked closer, she noticed that the phone must have been dropped or something. All its innards, if you could call the jumble of wires that, were falling out of the back. She picked up the handset and cradled it against her ear.

Nothing.

But she was curious despite herself, and she could do with a distraction. Lifting the whole thing off the gritty desk, she pulled it into her lap as she sat in an old chair.

A few minutes later, she felt certain that none of the wires were ripped apart, just ripped out of where they should have been. Trial and error led to where she was now, everything still in a confusing mess, and looking like it was all connected to the right parts.

Trying the handset again, it actually slipped from her fingers after she placed it to her ear. Scrambling, Kagome caught it just before it hit the floor.

There had been a dial tone.

Something about her success brought the fear plummeting back into her stomach. It flooded her system; her hands were suddenly clammy and her heart pounded a desperate tattoo in her chest. Her eyes turned to the door, as though the thug outside knew that she had done something she shouldn't have. But the hallway remained as silent as it had been since she'd been unceremoniously shoved inside the office.

Taking a deep breath, she retreated as far from the door as the phone cord would allow… and dialed Inuyasha's home phone number.

"Hello," his voice rumbled in her ear, sending a chill down her spine and warmness pooling in her stomach. _Hope_. She still had it after all.

"Inuyasha, listen carefully," she whispered into the phone, cutting off whatever response had been building on his end. "I'm alright. Did you find the paper with the location? Are they alright?" She didn't even pause to let him answer. "Look, I know I'm in the Nerima district because of all the small factories, but I don't know the exact address. Get a hold of Detective Yagi or someone and have them put a trace on this call... And hurry, please, Inuyasha."

Kagome could hear his heavy breathing on the line for a second, but then a muffled conversation filtered through as he must have explained to the others and dealt with contacting the police. She sat with her back against the wall, the desk a barrier between her and the door. Carefully, she hunched her shoulders in towards herself, keeping the phone plastered to her ear and the mouthpiece as close to her lips as possible. The entire conversation so far had been held in a low, soft whisper.

After a painstakingly long minute, she heard his voice in her ear again. "Kagome?"

"Yes?" she breathed, her eyes trained on the door, unblinkingly.

"They've got a trace going… but it'll take a few minutes."

"Ok."

After that, they sat in silence. On her end, she crouched in the same spot, hardly daring to move at all. She didn't know when Bankotsu would decide to grace her with his presence, nor did she know how thick the door was. At any second, she kept thinking, she could be discovered. They wouldn't be pleased if they found out she had found a way to give away their location so easily. Even worse, they could probably get out of there long before the police could make it to her rescue. On his end, Inuyasha waited, surrounded by the others, and was content enough to just listen to her breathe.

There was some more hushed conversation, and then Inuyasha repeated back what he must have just been told. "They've got it. We're on our way."

"Inuyasha?"

"Yeah"

"Be careful," she pleaded. And then the connection she still couldn't believe she had gotten was broken.

Replacing the phone back on the desk, she made sure to unplug some of the wires. There would be no reason for the any of them to call her back, but it was still a liability. If that phone did ring for some reason, everything would be ruined.

No sooner had she retreated to her original corner did she hear the dry _click_ of the door being unlocked. The doorknob wobbled for a moment and then turned, letting the man of her nightmares into the room.

"My colleagues and I," he began, referring to the group of faceless men that Kagome had not recognized when she had briefly seen them on her way in, "have finished examining the jewel. Lovely, isn't it?" He closed the door behind himself and sat in the chair.

First, her blue eyes flickered to the door, which he had obviously left unlocked. He must have wanted to tempt her, give her a brief glimmer of hope which she could never use.

Then, those big, blue orbs lingered on the phone so close to where he had placed his hand on the desk. Little did he know, she had already seized her own opportunity.

"That jewel is nothing but a curse," she retorted angrily, forcing her eyes away from the broken phone before it gave him any ideas. "It'll only bring you pain."

"Life is painful, Ms. Higurashi," Bankotsu informed her gently.

His calm voice and the fact that he was no longer dragging her around the city by her bruised wrist almost made him sound like a reasonable man. She hadn't forgotten that he had actually given up the location of the children for the jewel instead of keeping both for himself. A small part of her, a part she didn't really want to recognize, remained optimistic about him.

Before she could stop herself, the question burst from her lips. "Why are you doing this? Do you have any idea how good you were? That you left no evidence behind for the police? Why can't you use that skill for something useful? Criminals have worked for the government before, using their experience to catch others just like them. You could do great things."

A smile flickered on the man's face. It wasn't a pleasant one. It revealed gleaming teeth, the exposed canines sharper than the average person's. No mirth reached his eyes. "I don't care for the greater good, Ms. Higurashi. All I have ever wanted was that jewel." He lifted himself from the chair, seemingly already tired of her company. "And now that I have it, I am almost ready to leave this city."

"Why keep me?" Kagome demanded hotly, getting to her feet and standing her ground as he turned surprised eyes her way.

Bankotsu lingered in the doorway. "I wanted to see the woman who brought the infamous Naraku down. I wanted to know how you survived it all."

"And what have you learned?"

His eyes traveled over the planes of her face before he smiled blandly. "That you're nothing special. You're a weak woman, Ms. Higurashi, and one who continues to hope despite everything she's been put through. You shouldn't. Life is painful," he echoed his early statement, before shutting the door and locking her inside.


	25. Rescue

For some reason, people continue to add me to their alerts despite the fact that I haven't been very active on this site for years. It was that fact, if nothing else, that made me feel like writing something.

Two things about this update:

1. I know I've given you guys little reason to trust me, but about the end of this chapter… just trust me, ok?

2. Another dark chapter, but I promise the final chapters and epilogue will have **a lot** more humor.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Twenty-Five: Rescue

* * *

Their eyes were the only uncovered parts of their bodies, but it was only a matter of time before they too got obscured by goggles. Inuyasha watched from the sidelines, perched on the bumper of one of the police vans with his back straight against the metal side and his arms lifeless against his thighs. The police unit marched past; each individual made last minute checks on their Kevlar and weaponry as they mingled in the abandoned factory. The group was only a few plots down from the building they had traced Kagome's call to.

"You're here against my better judgment," Yagi muttered, lighting his cigarette with a match before flicking it out in the cold air. A bit of smoke twisted in the air, mingling with the mist creeping from the detective's mouth with every breath.

"So you've said," the younger man snapped, his upper lip curling in a snarl. "Then why don't you enlighten me on why I'm here?"

"I figured it was better to let you tag along where I could keep my eye on you than to risk you sneaking in and screwing it up."

Inuyasha chuckled darkly. "Nice to see you have confidence in me."

His old eyes growing dark, Detective Yagi watched the men gathered nearby. "This is primarily a stealth mission. Get in, apprehend the suspects, get out. No casualties, no mistakes."

"We're sure they're still in there?"

"Positive."

"…And Kagome?"

"I'm not leading this team. We don't negotiate with the bad guys. I just hope she doesn't get caught in the crossfire if there is any," his response was clipped and pessimistic, and Inuyasha would have torn the detective a new one if the guy didn't look so worn through. The two fell into a worried silence, but it didn't last long.

"I hate this sitting and waiting crap," Inuyasha grumbled, getting to his feet and starting towards the side door. His footsteps were heavy against the dusty floor and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans to keep them warm.

"Don't compromise us," Detective Yagi called after him, the warning clear. Inuyasha tossed a restless look back at the old man, flicked his hand in an unidentifiable gesture, and then disappeared into the alleyway.

* * *

The thug who had been standing guard outside of Kagome's prison was now standing guard inside of it. His eyes, though beady, stayed trained on her face. Emotionless, he cradled his semi-automatic against his side as he studied his captive.

For hours now, she had stayed in the corner of the room, her legs folded against her chest and her long arms curled around her knees. Her face was blank and partially covered by her full bangs.

From the direction of the wall she was leaning against, but not in the room immediately next door, the guard could hear shouting. It was muted and indistinguishable, but the tone was universal. His bosses were disagreeing about something and loudly. He would rather be in that room, knowing what the hell was going on, but his orders were to remain here.

He couldn't understand why, to tell the truth. This girl, this Kagome, looked fragile. Plus, he had heard Bankotsu himself call her nothing special. There was no way she could escape.

With a sigh, he dug the pinky of his free hand deep in his ear. Pulling it out, he held it close to his eyes and squinted at the earwax coating his fingertip. What he wouldn't give for a Q-tip.

The shouting abruptly stopped and the thug glanced up. Several shadows passed the window as a few of the men moved down the hall. The meeting was over, he guessed. Now they were going their separate ways, probably to pack. The criminals wouldn't stay in this building much longer; if they did, their capture was certain. No, soon they would be moving on, relocating in another city where they had already built an empire underground. They had connections everywhere these days.

Kagome's fate wasn't as certain.

A few more minutes passed and the silence settled unnervingly on his shoulders. He should've gotten an update by now… he didn't like not having another order, a schedule to follow. Somewhere deep in the bowels of the building, he heard movement: a muffled grunt, the creak of a floorboard.

The girl's head moved a fraction of an inch, her ear tilted towards the room's door. Knowing she'd heard it too confirmed the thug's uneasiness.

"Stay here," he rumbled, his voice low and thick. His eyes watched her face for a few seconds, looked for some reaction, but found nothing.

Out in the hallway, the lights mounted on the wall flickered and sent the shadows in the corner roving over the floor. He hoisted the gun to his shoulder, his hands gripping the weapon tighter.

One might call him paranoid, but it was his job to keep things under control. He didn't like variables.

He checked a corner, saw nothing down the short hallway and the door at the end was closed. On he went, down the corridor, took a right. He should have met up with someone else by now, another patrolling thug or even one of the bosses. It shouldn't be this empty.

There, footsteps. The tip of the gun dropped an inch, but jolted back up when his eyes landed on a man ahead of him. Dressed all in black, a pistol leveled in the thug's direction, the shape hinting at a silencer.

"Drop your weapon!"

As good as he was at following orders, this wasn't the thug's boss. His thumb switched the two safeties off and his index finger hugged the trigger. But the policeman was faster, dropping the thug to the ground with barely any noise.

"One casualty, three apprehensions on the third floor," the policeman reported into his headset, approaching the body and dragging it out of the way.

* * *

Kagome, back in her corner, looked around with eyes a lot clearer now that her guard had left. She waited to hear his returning footsteps, but she couldn't catch any sound no matter how hard she strained her ears. She'd thought she'd heard a shout, but it didn't mean much to her.

It should have been obvious by now that she wasn't good at listening to instructions, whether they were from others or her own conscience. With little hesitation, Kagome decided to disregard her guard's parting command and stumbled to her feet. Messaging the blood back into her legs, the dark haired woman reviewed her options.

One, she could stay in the room, Bankotsu and his cronies would pull themselves together, and all of them would disappear to who knows where. Any way she looked at it, if the cavalry (i.e. Detective Yagi and his boys) didn't arrive in time, Kagome would either be killed or held hostage for the rest of her life. That, she decided, was the worst possible scenario.

Two, her knights in shining armor arrived and/or her captors released her without a fight. In this case, she would make it home before morning, get a good meal and a hot shower, and then reunite with her boys. This was what she called her happy-sunshine scenario: she lived and there was little trouble for everyone involved… and she did mean everyone.

As much as she despised Bankotsu for all he had done, as traumatic and horrible as his actions had been, Kagome couldn't bring herself to want him dead. Through her contact with Naraku, she had met some pretty horrible guys. Bankotsu, no matter how she looked at it, didn't come off like the psychopathic murderer she knew she should see him as. She'd only met with him face to face three times, but she couldn't make herself be scared of him.

Finally, three, she could take things into her own hands. If past experience had taught her anything, it was that this was what she would probably do. Telling herself that if the thug hadn't returned by the time she had counted to sixty it would be safe to go, Kagome wrapped her hand around the doorknob.

…_58, 59, 60._

With a quick breath, she wrenched the door open and stepped into the hall with her eyes squeezed shut.

Nothing.

She blinked and waited for her eyes to adjust to the poorly lit corridor. The shouting had been coming from the right, so she resolutely turned her nose to the left and took off at a brisk walk. _Don't be afraid. Don't hesitate._ The dirt and grime on the cement floor muffled the sound of her tennis shoes, so she focused more on where she was going than the noise she was making while getting there. The thug must have been wearing steel-toed boots, she figured, since he'd sounded like a bull stomping away from the room.

When they'd arrived, she'd been yanked around pretty unceremoniously. Now her sense of direction was turned on its ear. Her blue eyes scanned the area, but nothing really stood out to help her find her way back out of the old art supplies factory. A few closed doors passed by, probably offices and probably empty, but her knees bent instinctively every time she passed a window. _Keep low._

Ahead were stairs. Practically running now, she flew down the steps and jumped across the landing. Where was everyone? A small part of her churned, worrying about the lack of contact. There should have been someone by now. Not that she really wanted to run into a bad guy, but not seeing anyone was freaking her out.

The next floor was more decorated than the last. There were paintings mounted on the wall that she recognized and an overturned lamp she remembered tripping over on her way in with Bankotsu. Feeling freer with every undiscovered step, she opened a heavy door at the end of the hall and ran headlong into a fleeing man in a suit.

"Hold your fire," a man in all black said sharply to two others following close behind. The three passed Kagome with hardly a glance.

"Another target found," one of them muttered into something attached to the headphones perched on his head.

Kagome had flattened against the wall after righting herself from the collision, her eyes wide. The ones in pursuit had to have been police, she figured, but she'd never seen them out of uniform and free from their stiff, polite postures.

"You really need to learn to stay out of trouble," a gruff voice muttered next to her ear. She jumped out of her skin, but feel back into it with a grateful _thump_.

"Inuyasha!"

"You're happy to see me, I'm happy to see you, yadda yadda. Time to go, we can have a reunion later." With a move even more irritated and impatient than usual, he snatched her wrist and started to navigate them out of the factory. Dusty boxes full of broken or forgotten art supplies lined the corridor as they passed through the warehouse part of the building.

"Where's Bankotsu?"

"Who?"

"Bankotsu Tsurugi! The man who I had that business meeting with on a clothing line last week? Remember? He's the one behind this!"

"Don't babble if you're not going to make sense. I don't remember any Bankotsu. Whoever the hell he is, he'll get what's coming to him."

If the situation alone wasn't enough to make Inuyasha angry, his rage grew until it almost smothered him. When faced with the unknown, he got angry. It was just how he handled things.

"What about the jewel?"

"I heard one of the cops say that they had it "in custody" along with most of the bastards in the building," he answered, yanking her around a corner. They descended the final flight of stairs into the belly of the warehouse and again entered a maze of hallways and offices.

"Are you supposed to be here?" Kagome asked, staring hard at the back of his head. It had finally dawned on her that Inuyasha wasn't the one she'd pick for a rescue mission, not being a cop and all. She watched the tops of his ears turn pink. Nope, he was totally trespassing on police territory. Naturally. Deciding to let the subject drop, she trailed along in his wake as he steered her.

For once, she let someone else take the situation out of her hands without a fight. But just this once and only for him.

The couple rounded the corner. Inuyasha's eyes scoured the hallway, locking onto a crooked painting of a rice paddy field. "It's this way," he muttered, tugging Kagome around a corner. Her wrist was limp in his hand, but he could feel her heartbeat fluttering beneath his fingertips, reassuring him. She was alive, it said. She was safe.

"You really didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"

Kagome gasped and pulled out of his grip. Inuyasha spun on his heel just in time to see her focus on the speaker standing in the doorway behind them. Inuyasha turned to face Bankotsu himself, his hands folding into fists and his posture defensive.

The criminal slinked in, his open face stretched wide with a smile. A clunky looking gun was held loosely in his hand, its gleaming surface as deceptively appealing as its owner's. "I'm harder to get rid of," he explained casually, his grip tightening. "That's why I was always the one in charge."

"It doesn't have to end this way. You can still give yourself up!" Kagome took a step closer. Inuyasha shot her a dark look, his eyes practically screaming at her to shut up, to keep behind him, to stop believing in everyone despite everything.

"I never was one to wave the white flag."

"Just put the gun down and walk away," Kagome pleaded, lifting her hand and extending it towards the desperate man. She stretched her arm out as though she could reach across the room to him. Her fingers shook, but her voice didn't, and she was grateful for that.

Bankotsu's fury seemed to double at her sympathetic gesture. The revolver remained aloft, swaying gently from Kagome's heart to Inuyasha's gut. His feet were planted, his own arms steady, and Kagome had little doubt that his aim would be good. "It doesn't work that way, Ms. Higurashi," he spat. "There is no walking away now. The jewel is gone and so are my men. There is nothing standing between me and a lifetime in jail."

"I know you're good," Kagome persisted, taking a step forward. Bankotsu swung the gun back in her direction, making her pause. She continued again after a second, however. "You could have just taken the jewel, but you kept your promise and told us where to find the children!"

"That makes me a man of my word, not a good man." His statement left no room for argument, his tone making it clear that that was that and she should stop trying to look for a deeper meaning in his earlier actions.

Inuyasha continued to glare at the man, his own hands shaking due to rage. "So just give it up already," he snapped. His voice startled Kagome, who had forgotten he was there. She turned to look at him, her blue eyes focused on the man who had remained by her side even when they were facing an armed criminal. The thought almost made her smile, but not so much as the surprise that he'd kept his mouth shut this long. "There's nowhere to run to and you're screwed no matter what you do."

"Exactly," Bankotsu answered smugly, his anger growing into something less easily defined. "So why not take someone down with me while I'm at it?"

"Why?" Kagome shrieked, tearing her gaze from Inuyasha. Her eyes clashed with Bankotsu's, which had become almost as crazed as she remembered Naraku's being. "You don't have to kill anyone, there's no reason to!"

"Yes, actually, there is." His finger squeezed the trigger. "I think it's about time you learned there is no "happily ever after," Ms. Higurashi."

Kagome didn't understand when she heard the sound, the _crack_ as the bullet left the barrel and the hot metal touched the air. The world made even less sense as, four feet away, Inuyasha let out a grunt of pain, not even a shout, and fell to the ground. Blood blossomed from somewhere in his chest, spreading too quickly for her to really see where the bullet had struck him. With a surprised, bemused look on his face, he lifted a hand to his heart, his white fingers jumping and twitching over his own body as he tried to grasp what had just happened to him. The look on Bankotsu's face was even less reasonable—it was though he had just achieved some goal he had toiled long and hard for.

Kagome did, however, understand that she was screaming.


	26. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

My goal for this chapter: keep it from getting boring, add some humor, and start to wrap everything up.

Ready… set… go!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, either its storyline or its characters. I am merely using them for mine and others' amusement, not for a profit.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Twenty-Six: Knockin' on Heaven's Door

* * *

"We," Kagome explained as she clipped the leash onto Miko's collar, "are going to the park. Wanna come?"

Leaning against the doorway, Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. It was actually a very light-hearted scowl, softening what he thought was a threatening look. "You're taking my dog and niece to the park, and you're the one inviting me along?"

She hummed in agreement, yanking a light jacket on over her blouse as the dog left the kitchen, trailing the leash on the carpet as she went. "That's what it sounded like to me," she replied snippily. When she looked at him, however, her eyes were twinkling and her lips were upturned in a quirky smile. "I hate it when Souta and Shippou visit Mom; I never have anything to do."

"You could finish the notes on those files," he responded, kicking off from the trim and moving towards the counter. He rattled through the cupboards restlessly and, apparently finding nothing to his liking, turned back to her.

"As wonderful as that sounds, I think the park sounds better," she replied once she was sure he was focused on her again, and then walked away. She heard his feet pad after her and hid a smile, happy he'd followed.

At the front door, she kicked off her slippers and put on her shoes. Tapping her toes against the floor to make sure they were on tight, she picked up the leash and looked back at her best friend one last time. "Well?"

"… I guess I could go," he admitted, already grabbing his own sneakers. "I probably won't stay the whole time."

"Because we're boring?"

"Yeah, because you're boring."

She ignored his jab and walked out the door. Rin was playing in the driveway with Miko, the dog trotting around the little girl as the unattended leash wrapped around both sets of their legs.

Inuyasha started towards his car, but stopped when he heard Kagome laughing, albeit softly, from behind. "What?" he griped, instantly turning sullen and defensive.

"We're gonna walk," she told him, tilting her head in the direction of the park. "It'll be cold soon, so I wanted to take advantage of the weather."

"But I want to drive," he whined. The two stared each other down before he visibly gave in, coming to her side. "Fine. Whatever. Lead the way."

"You're so sweet," she said, half sarcastically and half not. She balanced on the tips of her toes and pecked him on the cheek. Before what she'd done had registered in either of their minds, she ran over to Rin and grabbed the girl's hand. "Let's go, sweetie."

From where he was standing, Inuyasha couldn't see that her cheeks were stained red. Luckily, she couldn't see that his were, too.

"Inuyasha! Aren't you coming?" Kagome called over her shoulder, a smile brighter than usual lighting up her face as she untangled the leash from around Miko's ankles.

He shook himself, but his brain still felt muddled and he couldn't see her face clearly anymore.

"Inuyasha!" Fainter…

Something sharp and metallic filled his mouth and he wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant taste.

"Inuyasha!" Fainter still…

Then nothing.

* * *

"Vitals are good," the emergency medical technician yelled, whether to his partner or to Kagome, she didn't know.

"How did he get shot?" demanded the other one, blood streaked along his sleeves and soiling his gloves.

"Hell, I don't know… one second he was there, I turned my back, then he was gone. Damn kid," Detective Yagi muttered angrily as he ran shaking fingers through his hair. He readjusted his glasses and lifted an unlit cigarette to his lips with his free hand. "Must've snuck in with the first wave of cops. With all the confusion, there were more of them in there than we thought, my boys were too busy to take care of him."

"This one?"

Yagi eyed Kagome warily. The girl had stuck close to them as they left the building, holding Inuyasha's hand in a death grip as they loaded him onto a stretcher and wheeled the wounded man out to the ambulance. She stood by the back of the van now, her body shuddering erratically. The detective couldn't tell where the terror stopped and the shock began. "Hostage. I need you to check her over, too."

"No," she whispered hoarsely. "Just him. Take care of him."

"Ms. Higurashi…"

"No, please, I'm fine. He's _bleeding_. He's been _shot_."

"Clearly," Yagi muttered, but quietly. He had been shaken by the assault as well, though he didn't show it. Over the past couple of weeks, he'd gotten almost close to the couple. "Fine, but as soon as we get to the hospital, you have to get looked at. Promise me. You won't be able to go into surgery with him anyway."

At the word "surgery," the dark-haired woman started convulsing with silent sobs again.

Startled, Yagi pattered her awkwardly on the shoulder. "There, there." He was relieved, however, when he saw her nod.

"The third?" the first EMT pressed as he finished strapping Inuyasha in and hooking up all of the machinery.

"Dead when I got there," another EMT reported, appearing from the abandoned factory and climbing into the driver's seat. "Bullet to the head; death was instant. We need to get this guy to the hospital; we'll let the medical examiners take care of the other."

"Ms. Higurashi, Bankotsu took his own life, isn't that right?" Yagi asked, chewing agitatedly on his cigarette, resisting the urge to light it.

"After he… he shot… he just put the gun to his head and…" Kagome bit her lip and hiccupped, looking as traumatized as possible. She'd seen Naraku fall, seen his corpse from far away, even identified his crushed face at the ME's office to verify that it was indeed him… but this had happened only feet away. Inuyasha's blood was everywhere, all over her even, and Bankotsu… she'd seen his head tear open. Pieces of skull, brain matter…

She climbed into the back of the ambulance and fastened herself into the seat provided there. Yagi snapped the doors shut behind them and the vehicle peeled away, the lights spinning and siren blaring.

* * *

The two were sitting at either end of a conference table. They were slouched in their seats, elbows planted on the surface, with eyes gazing unseeingly at the piles of paperwork spread around them.

"I hate business meetings," Inuyasha grumbled. He slouched even further and his posture screamed irritation.

"You hate a lot of things," Kagome grumbled back, but she was smiling despite her tone.

"A lot of things deserve to be hated," he snapped. He shot her a dark look, not taking her bait. He didn't want to be teased or cheered up; he wanted to gripe about work and have her sit there and listen.

"There has to be something you like about work," she prodded, leaning forward eagerly and ignoring the paperwork. A piece crumpled under her hand, but she swept it away impatiently.

He paused only a second, then said something he probably would have avoided saying if he'd been in a better mood. But anger made him blunt, and business meetings always made him angry. Even when they went well like this one had. There was just something about dealing with his subordinates that put him in a sour mood. So, being in an angrily blunt mood, he told her honestly, "I like seeing you every day."

Kagome's elbow slipped out from under her, but she caught herself before her face hit the table. She laughed weakly and tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. "Look at who's being a tease now," she said, her expression troubled and suddenly closed off.

Inuyasha's mood darkened even more, recognizing the fact that she was going to choose to take his comment at less than face value. Everyone always said he was the oblivious or thick one, but she could be so freakishly dense sometimes. If he hadn't already decided he was in love with her, this might have changed his mind.

"Let's get back to work," she encouraged. "We've got so many new clients to check out; I don't want to miss a single opportunity! Right, Inuyasha?"

He wanted to snap back with something negative, probably about how her optimism was indescribably annoying, but when he opened his mouth, all he could hear was himself screaming.

* * *

"It's ok, it's ok," Kagome kept repeating, his hand back in hers as she trailed alongside the gurney. They reached a set of swinging white doors with small, round windows set over her head. Here, the nurses who had rushed out to collect them from the hospital's driveway separated their hands and turned her away.

"You can wait out here. We'll bring you news as soon as there is some," all of them told her before disappearing with Inuyasha.

Not caring if she was in the way, Kagome stood in the corridor listlessly. The fact that she'd promised Detective Yagi to get checked by someone at the hospital slipped from her mind. There was so much worry and fear coursing through her body that she was almost crippled by it. Inuyasha was strong, but even the distorted, heroic vision she'd created of him and placed on a pedestal might not survive a gunshot wound this bad. There had been so much blood and he'd been drifting in and out of it ever since Bankotsu had taken his own life.

"You always seem to be here," a calm voice stated close to her ear, startling Kagome out of her trance. She stumbled back and looked up into the pristine face of the nurse she vaguely remembered being named Kikyou.

"Yeah," she agreed, laughing feebly. "I can't help it. I must be a hospital junkie."

A small smile flitted across Kikyou's face but was gone before Kagome was sure it had been there at all. "The boy hasn't had a relapse, I hope?"

"Yes, it's not him… it's… it's…" Kagome's voice cracked and she bit her lip, fighting against a fresh wave of sobs as they clawed their way up her throat.

"You don't have to explain," the woman said gently, taking Kagome by the shoulder and steering her towards an unoccupied examining room down the hall. "I'll go get you a pair of scrubs; you're covered in blood. Not yours, I take it. I'll get you some tea, too." She gave Kagome a soothing look and pat on the back. These actions made it clear to Kagome that Kikyou thought she was in shock.

Was she? She wanted to say she wasn't because she could feel so much… but at the same time, she could only sense fleeting emotions, not anything physical. Memory told her that her wrist was bruised and sore from being gripped harshly by both Bankotsu and Inuyasha earlier that night, but she couldn't feel anything wrong. She examined her arms closely and found that the bruises were still here.

A footstep startled her yet again, and she jerked her head up to find Kikyou standing a few feet away with folded, light green scrubs piled in her arms.

"You should wear a bell," Kagome joked, forcing her face into a grin that looked more like a grimace.

"They have the best surgeon in there," Kikyou reassured her, setting the clothing on the examination table next to Kagome, who couldn't even remember sitting down. "Your friend will be fine."

Deep down, a part of Kagome knew that Kikyou couldn't know that for sure, but she appreciated the gesture anyway. She even clung to it in desperation, wishing and praying that the nurse was right.

"I know it's not very comfortable, but why don't you lay down here and I'll come find you when I know more."

Not wanting to be alone quite yet, Kagome asked, "When do you not work?"

"I prefer the night shift," Kikyou answered. "It's quieter." With that, she was out the door.

* * *

"Miroku! Cut. That. Out."

"I can't help it, dearest," the man defended, his hand again creeping down her backside. "I get, ahem, extremely glad to see you when I'm worried about something. It's a very natural human reaction to stressful situations, I'll have you know."

"There are so many things wrong with this and you that I don't even know where to start," Sango snapped, pushing his hand off her thigh and giving him a look that would put off any lesser man.

Unluckily, Miroku was not a lesser man. "Is that so?"

"Yes, that's so. For one, Kagome and Inuyasha are both in trouble; we haven't heard from them in hours. For another, Sesshoumaru, Kagura, Kouga, Kagome's _mom_, and all the children in our lives are in the room next door."

"And?"

"And we're not doing this. Look, it would be harder on me than you if I were forced to take action and ruin your chances of ever bearing children."

"Do you mean…?"

"Either I'll never sleep with you again or take a baseball bat to where you really don't want a baseball bat to go. I haven't decided yet."

"That's harsh, my love," Miroku said, taking her hand in his to lessen his urge to grope her. If he kept his hand busy with more appropriate things, he'd be less likely to rouse her anger. Plus, he couldn't remember if Inuyasha happened to keep any baseball bats in this room.

"And my violence is one of the things you love most about me."

"Unfortunately. I can't help it; an independent, strong, and beautiful woman is a thing of perfection," Miroku complimented sweetly, bumping his shoulder against hers and smiling as charmingly as he could manage. He saw her shoulders slump and knew the fight had gone right back out of her. Not that he'd say it, but he loved it when she needed him, too.

"Yet somehow I ended up with a man who drinks soy sauce and has admitted to wishing he wore a dress because it's more comfortable."

Miroku's smile turned uneasy as he quickly tried to untangle his hand from hers. Escape was the only thing on his mind. However, her fingers wrapped around his even tighter. "You said you'd never mention that again! What I say when I'm drunk is strictly off limits."

"If you'd drink less sake, you'd say less embarrassing things."

"That's the only awkward thing I've ever said," Miroku argued, but it was obvious he was racking his brain. He couldn't remember anything else, but his memory was pretty faulty from some nights.

The look on Sango's face turned sly, which made Miroku swallow anxiously. This didn't bode well. "Remember a few weeks ago, when we were at the restaurant? Around the time your car was in shop?" He said nothing, so she continued almost gleefully. "You didn't think I was watching, but I saw you hitting on every girl sitting at the bar. Then… well, you've always said Inuyasha had nice hair, especially from behind."

Miroku laughed at his girlfriend. "I didn't hit on my best friend when I was drunk."

"Oh, you didn't just hit on him…."

* * *

A hand shook her shoulder, but Kagome just rolled out of reach.

"Higurashi, Higurashi," someone was saying, prodding her shoulder again, more urgently this time. "Higurashi, your friend is out of surgery."

Things came to her slowly, pieced together by effort that hurt to drag up. She remembered the meeting on the rooftop, the kidnapping, the rescue with little detail, but the scene with the gun slammed into her brain and pounded against the backs of her eyes. Sitting up, Kagome was nose-to-nose with Kikyou.

With a respectful bow, Kikyou took a step back. "He's recovering in the ICU. I've spoken with the doctors and have gotten you special permission to visit him."

"How is he?" Kagome's voice was hoarse with sleep and crying, her cheeks raw where the tears had worn them through.

"He lost a lot of blood, but there was no damage to his lung. They removed the bullet, cleaned and closed the wound, and gave him a blood transfusion. The anesthesia should be wearing off by now, it's been a few hours, but don't be surprised if he is unresponsive. His body went through a lot tonight."

"But he's alright?" Kagome pressed eagerly, barely daring to hope.

Kikyou hesitated, her manner suddenly more severe and distant. "He'll live."

Her fears amplified, Kagome reached a hand towards the nurse. Kikyou let her grab onto her shirt front and didn't back down. "What are you not telling me?"

Kikyou gave her a look infinitely more composed and mature than Kagome felt she had ever been or could ever hope to be. "He was shot, Ms. Higurashi, at close range by someone who has probably killed others before. He is alive and he will wake up, but it will be some time before he will be normal again. Obviously, you've both lived through something traumatic tonight. I suggest you support each other in anyway you can."

Reeling with this, Kagome hardly noticed when Kikyou removed her hands and disappeared into the hall. Another nurse, one she didn't recognize, came in and helped Kagome off of the examination table. She let this woman lead her to the ICU.

Standing at the end of Inuyasha's bed, a curtain cutting them off from the rest of the room, the rest of the world, Kagome took stock of her life.

"I know I should've said this before. I know I should never have doubted you and what you thought and felt and what you've done for me and want to do for me… I know if I'd said it at any time in the last three months, I would have meant it. But, I'm saying it now. I…

"I'm in love with you, you idiot."


	27. Nothing Left to Lose

I was in Europe from the 4th to the 21st June '08

I was in Europe from the 4th to the 21st June '08. I'd meant to update this story before I left, but I ran out of time; I didn't do a lot of things I meant to do. I wrote the majority of this chapter on the bus from Rome to Sorrento, Italy. I'm aiming for one more chapter, the epilogue, after this. I'm not sure how many people are still reading my updates, but I promised to finish this story… so I will.

Please, _please_ drop me a review with reminders of any loose strings I haven't tied yet and any requests for the ending.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

* * *

Aftermath's Destruction

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Nothing Left to Lose

* * *

Something had happened. However, Sango couldn't put her finger on exactly what that something was.

Inuyasha had been conscious for almost forty-eight hours now, constantly drifting in and out of sleep. During this time, people had been parading through his hospital room: family, friends, employees, business partners. They all brought some form of condolences, the braver ones going so far as to reprimand him for his reckless behavior and saying how unsurprised they were that he'd finally gotten himself shot. He took it pretty well, only muttering some mild curses and offering up a few short-lived arguments, but everyone could tell his heart wasn't in them.

Sango knew Inuyasha could sense the something, too.

Kagome was never in the room when Inuyasha was awake, except for the moment he first opened those groggy, perpetually stubborn eyes. She'd given him a dazed smile, kissed him on the cheek, and then fled the room. Since then, she only visited when she was sure Inuyasha was knocked out by pain killers or pure exhaustion.

Sango had seen her slip in a few times both nights; she sensed the awkward silence radiating from the dark room even from her uncomfortable seat in the small waiting room a short way down the hallway. Then the younger girl would sneak back out within a few minutes, a complicated look on her face.

At first, Sango thought Kagome was rebuilding the wall she'd been hiding behind during and after the Naraku Incident, the one the group had systematically torn down. Her faith in her friend made her revise this into a hope that Kagome was just strengthening her self-esteem and getting a grip on her chaotic life.

The way Kagome acting with her boys had also changed. She was much more patient and mature with Souta and Shippou than she'd ever been before. That was saying a lot, considering Kagome overreacted about as often as Inuyasha did. Not that Sango would ever tell her that.

This was what Sango thought about as she studied another one of Kagome's nightly visits. Red-brown eyes stay trained on the doorway as she gently lifted Miroku's head from her shoulder. He snorted and stirred, but allowed her to shift his balance away from her body. As he settled back down, she stretched her arms overhead, fighting the urge to moan as her tendons pulled and loosened; both elbows cracked, pain and relief seeping through them.

Miroku rubbed the drool from his chin in his sleep, wiping his fingers on his jeans when he was done. Sango frowned, a little disgusted, and made a mental note not to hold his hand any time soon. She felt a shudder run through her shoulders, just imagining his slimy, sticky hand…

"Ughh…"

A dry _click_ interrupted her musings, fortunately, and she looked up to find Kagome standing in the hallway. The black-haired girl was staring down at her hand, the fingers jumping and twitching, with eyes as dazed as her smile had been lately.

"Kagome," Sango called down the hallway, her voice as soft as she could make it. Even so, she saw Kagome jump and turn sharply on her heels, visibly forcing herself to relax.

"Hey," Kagome said breathlessly once Sango was standing in front of her. Her pale cheeks flamed pink and her right hand curled behind her back where she'd hid it. Her fingers, unbeknownst to Sango, were tingling where they'd been intertwined with Inuyasha's in his sleep.

"Let's talk," Sango suggested, but her confident voice made it sound more like a command than a request. Her tone had always been so much more sure and steady than anyone else Kagome had ever met; she both respected and envied it.

"Yeah… ok," Kagome said as if she had a choice. She let her friend lead her to another small waiting room, further down the hall and in the opposite direction of where Miroku was still snoozing. The two rooms were open and not too far from each other, so Sango kept an eye on her conniving boyfriend. Even at that distance, they could hear him begin to snore softly.

The brunette studied the other woman closely, noting the giddy blue eyes and the small scabs on Kagome's bottom lip, hinting at the times she'd spent worrying the flesh with her teeth. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine," Kagome responded automatically.

Sango waved this response away. "You can talk to me; you can always talk to me, Kagome."

Kagome dropped her eyes quickly, and then brought them back up defiantly, defensively. "I know that," she told Sango weakly, not wanting the older girl to doubt the bond they'd formed in the near four months they'd known one another.

"We're in the middle of a storybook ending," Sango pressed, patting the hand Kagome still had resting on her knee. "The kids are home, safe and sound; the bad guys were caught and are gonna be punished; everyone… most everyone… lived through this. I even heard Ayami asked Kouga out yesterday. And he's actually considering maybe saying yes."

"I know," Kagome repeated.

"Then what's your problem? Inuyasha won't say anything to anyone, but I can tell he's as worried about you as I am. Granted, he's always worried about you… they're a very stressful person."

"It's just…"

"Yes?" Sango prodded when Kagome trailed off. "You're so close to your happy ending." There was something the brunette wasn't saying, but Kagome could hear the endless support and hope in the words she did speak. "Stop looking for drama, stop waiting for something bad to happen. Just reach out and grab it, damn it."

Kagome didn't answer. She never finished that conversation, actually; she let Sango have the last word. Instead, Kagome patted Sango's hand in the same way the other had done to her just moments before, stood up, and walked away.

"A little harsh, but I think you got your point across," Miroku told his girlfriend when she retook her seat at his side. He had one eye cracked open.

"I always do. Thought you were asleep," Sango replied suspiciously. She curled up in the chair and tucked her long legs underneath.

"I managed to wake up just in time to hear your conversation. Imagine that; my foot itched."

"What you mean to say is that you can sniff out something to eavesdrop on even in your sleep."

"Maybe."

"I'll never trust you again." Sango paused, shifting her head to the crook between his neck and shoulder. He felt her breath stir his bangs and warm his cheek. "Do you think it'll work out between them?" She asked.

"I have good hopes. I happen to be a very optimistic person."

"Something I love about you."

"You love many things about me," he replied, his chest swelling.¹

"Yeah, almost as many as I hate."

He looked hurt for a second, but smiled when she snuggled in tighter against his side. They leaned into each other, drawn by some pull created between them that they didn't feel the need to define.

"You think we'll make it?"

"Us?" Miroku asked drowsily, already being lulled back to sleep. "Oh, I've got a good feeling about us."²

* * *

"What do you expect to happen to them?"

"That depends on which "them" you are referring to."

Kagura shot Sesshoumaru a sour look, her upper lip curling and eyes darkening. "The kidnappers," she clarified resentfully, eventually, when the man remained silent. Her tone made it obvious that he should have, and she highly suspected he did, known this. He was only trying to, how you say, ruffle her feathers.

"I expect them to be punished," Sesshoumaru answered, his cool eyes studying the carrots he was slicing into perfect, even circles. His movements were swift and methodical, contrasting sharply with the messily chopped celery piled before Kagura's half of the counter. She was slumped a few feet down from him, sulking as she had ever since he first asked her to help out with dinner. "I'll use what influence I have to make sure nothing, shall we say _corrupt_, happens during the court proceedings."

"So you're gonna help out your baby brother? Again?"

"Half-brother," he corrected automatically, using the chef's knife to scrap the carrots off of the cutting board and into the boiling pot. "I cannot allow him to tarnish our father's name. Again."

"Well that and you love him."

"Hardly," Sesshoumaru answered without skipping a beat. "It is not a question of love or hate, but duty to the one other person who shares my father's blood. For better or worse." A small pause nestled itself in his speech and he glanced at the folding screen blocking the next room from view. All the children currently living in the household were playing in there, and it sounded like a small hurricane was happening just out of sight. The number of kids was growing steadily, it seemed, and now included Shippou, Souta, Kohaku, Kanna, and his own adopted daughter. "Rin is attached to him."

"Who? Inuyasha? Well, so are you."

He chose not to rise to her bait, leaving Kagura feeling frustrated but unsurprised. Instead, he focused on stirring the stew.

Kagura tapped her long nails, filed to points, on the countertop once, twice, the tattoo echoing in the silent room. "I'm thinking about sticking around, maybe finding an apartment closer to downtown."

…

"I've got a guy who can write me up some legal-enough papers if I asked in just the right way."

…

"Kanna likes it here."

…

"I still… Sometimes I feel like I still owe Kagome something. I hate feeling in debt."

…

"Say something, dammit!"

"I have nothing to say."

Kagura huffed, her breath ruffling her bangs angrily. "No "okay" or "that's nice?""

"I find little worth in sentiments such as those. A waste of breath, really."

"Fine, maybe I won't stay!"

…

"Well, ok, maybe I will."

…

"One day, you're going to get married and you'll get in trouble with your old woman if you haven't learned how to say all the little things. Your wife will never feel appreciated."

"Or I could just marry you and you could tell yourself all those little things. You seem quite adept at talking enough for the both of us."

Kagura's elbow slipped off the counter and her head, which up until then had been cradled in the hand attached to said elbow, plummeted towards the hard surface. She caught herself quickly before bubbling into silent laughter. Now _that_ was a plan. Secretly, however, she thought being married to Sesshoumaru wouldn't be such a bad thing. For one, she'd get a big house out of it. For another, she'd never have to cook.

Plus, it meant she'd probably be the one to wear the pants in the relationship.

"How many more days until Inuyasha can come home?"

"Tomorrow. He might have been released earlier if there had been any indication he would have gotten the prescribed bed rest. That nurse, that Kikyou, seemed to know his type well."

"Smart. Your brother's a little reckless."

"Half-brother, and you mean to say that he is borderline moronic."

"And you love him for it."

* * *

"Where've you been?"

Kagome glanced away guiltily, her hand clutching the doorknob as she pulled the hospital door shut behind her. In the corner of the room, she could see the rays of the setting sun stretching out across the floor. It was Inuyasha's third night of being awake and his final night in the hospital; at least according to what Kikyou said a few minutes before in the hallway. Kagome wasn't sure if, once they were all safe back in Inuyasha's home and celebrating their good health and togetherness, she'd be able to do what needed to be done.

"I've been taking care of a few things," she explained lamely, snapping the door shut. The dry _click_ signaled the beginning of what could be a very frightening evening for her.

"Yeah? What's that?" Inuyasha's voice was a little brutal, but Kagome knew that was only because he was hurt that it had taken her this long to be in the same room with him. Awake, that is. She was pretty sure no one knew about her nightly visits but Sango.

Maybe Miroku, too. He seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere, including her bathroom, she'd found out earlier. (Kagome would leave it up to him to explain the palm-shaped print throbbing on his cheek to Sango when she got home from the police station.)

"Well," she began carefully, making her way to the chair at his bedside. She settled into it slowly, draping one leg over the other and knitting her hands in her lap. "They're a little worried about Detective Yagi. He tried to explain to me that he wasn't exactly acting within his jurisdiction or something. He wasn't the one in charge and there was probably another, better trained officer to handle the raid. The lawyers, ours I mean, are afraid the defense will try to lay the blame on Yagi. You know, say he messed up somehow, that it could have produced better evidence and… and Bankotsu could have been apprehended before he… Well, anyway, they're saying they might accuse Yagi of being too emotionally attached to us. Clouded his thought process."

"Bullshit. He's a pretty cold bastard; everyone should know that by now."

"Well, I know that and you know that, but the court might not…" Kagome twisted her fingers together, looking at everything but the man in front of her.

"Don't worry about it; he'll find a way out of it. No one in their right mind would willingly be on the side of the assholes who stole a bunch of kids. What else have you been working on?"

"Well, I've been talking to Mama. We think it would be best if Souta and Shippou went back to live with her until things with the court settle down."

"What?" Inuyasha exploded. "Why?"

"It would just be for a little while," she reassured him, her voice pleading with him. He could tell she wasn't happy about the decision. That she was doing it only because she really thought it would be best for the boys. It was tearing her up inside, he saw, watching her wring her hands, but she liked making sacrifices for others.

_Idiot_, he thought fondly.

"There's just going to be a lot of press coverage and stuff, we figured since it was a big case and all, and if the boys were with my mother, there would be less of a chance of reporters hunting them down. They'd live in a _shrine_," she explained.

He let the matter pass, but the silence didn't last long. "So I hear you got your things all packed." Inuyasha was fishing for something; his arms were crossed and his eyes were averted, but it was more defensive than offensive.

There was something in the air; that same something that had been hovering for days. They could both sense it now, both feel it stirring in the space between them. A storm was brewing… or a change that would somehow transform both their lives. If the something hadn't have seemed so serious, Kagome would have laughed nervously to clear the air.

"Who told you that?"

"Sesshoumaru. He called to give me an update on some things an hour ago." He loosened one of his arms and brought his hand down to pick at a loose thread on the comforter.

Kagome nodded, staring down at her clasped hands. "Well, I did have everything packed up, but I took it all back out."

Inuyasha was almost startled enough to look her in the face, but he caught himself at the last second, his eyes rooted to the wall just over her head. "Why?"

"I was hoping I could… I want to stay with you."

"For a few more days? Weeks? Whatever. I don't need help with my rehabilitation, you know. But, yeah, I don't care, I guess."

"No," she countered, her eyes still watching her hands even as they unclasped and curled into fists. She bit her lip and leaned forward eagerly, her entire body starting to quiver as she tried to control herself. Her eyes sought out Inuyasha's now, the piercing blue studying the skin around his eyes, but he still wouldn't look at her. "I'm not talking days or weeks… I'm talking years, _decades_! Maybe not forever, I don't want to jinx it or anything, but I want to stay with you. I want to stay with you until you don't want me to anymore, until you tell me to go."

His gaze finally met hers. "Why?"

"What?" She asked, startled, not knowing how he would respond but not expecting this. "Inuyasha, please, you have to know why. Isn't it obvious by now?"

"Kagome, I have to hear you say it."

"You're so stubborn," she accused, tears pooling in her eyes until they slipped over the edge and traced their way down her cheeks. They weren't bad tears. "I—because I love you!"

"I know."

"Inuy--!"

"I love you, too."

* * *

¹I was writing this line when I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.

²And this line when I saw Mt. Vesuvius.


	28. Epilogue: Because We Can

Alright, alright… this is it! I tried to keep it short and sweet. Thank you for all of your patience and kind words; I am unbelievably sorry it took me this long to conclude this story.

Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own Inuyasha and am making no profit from this.

* * *

Epilogue: Because We Can

* * *

Kagome plunked the paper bags she was carrying onto the kitchen counter. A loud _clunk_ announced the sheer amount of cans she had crammed into them. "Hey, guys! Help me unload the groceries!" From deep within the house, she could hear signs of life. Like ghosts, several members of the household drifted into the room; everyone who answered her order was a little gloomy and sullen.

"Do we have to?" Inuyasha whined, grabbing Rin by the waist and lifting her, shrieking, onto the kitchen table. She sat at the edge and kicked her dangling feet. Her wide grin and scattered giggles made Kagome smile despite the bad vibe she was getting from the rest.

"Kagome was kind enough to do the shopping," Kagura admonished, slipping past the others with more bags in her arms. She dropped them down next to Kagome's and reached in, pulling out a few items at a time and piling them nearby.

Inuyasha grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't even live here; why the hell are you here all the time?"

The red-eyed woman turned on him, her hands on her hips with the talons digging into her own flesh. "Want to know why? Really? It's because I love your company that much, that's why."

With a frown, Inuyasha came to stand between the two women and started to put away things that needed to go on higher shelves. "Don't have to be such a bitch about it," he muttered under his breath.

Kagome shot him a dirty look, and then tilted her head in Rin's direction.

"She's heard worse."

"You're so stubborn," she grumbled. He could hear the smile in her voice, so he figured he wasn't in too much trouble.

"I'm stubborn? I'm pretty sure hell would've frozen over before we ever got together if I hadn't taken the first step," he countered anyway, unable to let a fight go.

"_You_ took the first step? I told you I loved you days before you told me!"

Inuyasha snorted. "Yeah, and I was unconscious."

"Still," Kagome retorted sourly, ignoring the amused glances Rin and Kagura were sending their way. This had to be the fourth time they'd had this conversation since Inuyasha had returned from the hospital three weeks ago.

"I'd been trying to tell you for months," he pushed.

"Ha!" she snorted, shoving another bag in his arms. "We all know you were incapable of feeling feelings until recently."

"Whoever said," Miroku stated wisely as he and Sango entered the already cramped kitchen with grocery bags of their own, "that the bickering would stop once you two were finally together must have never met you guys. I think you argue more now than you did when you were still pretending it wasn't obvious you wanted to be all over each other."

Inuyasha turned his bag upside down over the counter, letting everything tumble out and hit the hard surface with an array of noises. Everyone in the room was glad Kagome hadn't been dumb enough to give him the bag with eggs or jam jars. "Why does everyone come to my house?"

"It's the biggest," Sango answered reasonably, methodically unloading her own bag and putting the rice and cereal boxes into the cupboard. "And you'll never admit it, but you love having us over all the time."

"Feh."

"Eloquent as always," Sesshoumaru said, sticking his head into the room. "Kouga and Ayame are here. Must she cling to him like that?"

"Ayame's in love," Kagome explained. Sesshoumaru stared back at her blankly. "Granted, Kouga still seems… a little… unconvinced, but Ayame seems like the kind of girl that gets her man."

"You call _that_ a man? Why would anyone want him?"

"Inuyasha!"

"I hate having him in this house almost as much as I hate having you," Inuyasha indicated Kagura with a sharp jab of his finger, "in my kitchen. I thought you got your own apartment."

"I did. It's just not furnished yet. You're lucky I found anything at all in just three weeks; I can't believe you made me move into a hotel until I could settle in," Kagura argued bitterly.

"The police and everyone are being so detail oriented on the kidnapping case, checking into everything… which is good, don't get me wrong, we don't want them to make a mistake and let anyone go free… it was for the best to get you out of the way." Miroku slipped between the two before an all-out brawl could start. He placed a hand on each of their chests as if they were about to lunge at each others' throats, despite this being a very mild argument for the two. Kagura quickly smacked his hand away, not even given it a chance to grab a squeeze. "We should just be happy that they finally gave up on Detective Yagi; I still can't believe there was such a public outcry when the defense started attacking his character."

"I didn't know that many people actually liked him."

"Inuyasha!"

"_What_?"

"Again with the bickering…"

"Miroku!"

"Yes, my dearest fiancée?" Miroku responded, drifting to Sango as though wings were attached to his ankles.

"Stop making unnecessary comments," she ordered, grabbing his sleeve and tugging him out the door towards the living room where everyone else was gathered, waiting for Kagome to return with the snacks from her quick grocery store outing. Now that all the bags were inside and most were unpacked, the brunette figured the couple could get away with backing out of the crowded kitchen. "And technically a woman has to say yes to a proposal before she can be called the man's fiancée. And if it really comes down to it, the man has to actually propose."

"But dearest, I thought putting the ring on your finger while you were asleep was a proposal! Very romantic, if I do say so myself."

"All I thought when I woke up was that we'd done something I'd regret while we were drunk and I just didn't remember it. You're lucky I like the ring," Sango grumbled good-naturedly, a smile taking the edge away from her words. Kagome spotted her eyeing the ring fondly as the two lovebirds disappeared down the hall.

"Can you imagine them married?" Inuyasha asked, shifting through the jumbled contents of the three bags he'd emptied into one big pile on the counter. Everyone else was nearly done. "I hope they have all daughters and the pervert has to deal with boys chasing after them all the time."

"Hurry up," Kagome commanded, almost patiently but not quite. Beside her, Kagura collected the brown bags and piled them under the sink. Afterwards, she picked Rin up and swung her to the ground. The two females exited as well, leaving Inuyasha and Kagome as the only two in the room. "Who's all here?" Kagome asked, leaning her hip against the counter and folding her arms over her chest. The result was a lot less aggressive as it was when Inuyasha did it.

"Everyone we wanted, and some we didn't… like Kouga and Kagura."

"Humor me."

"Fine. Sesshoumaru, Rin, Kagura, Kanna, Miroku, Sango, Kohaku, Souta, Shippou, your mom, Kouga, Ayame, Keade, Myouga…"

"Kikyou didn't come?"

"She phoned; thanked us for our hospitality, but told me that she had to work."

"The others?"

"Anyone I didn't name couldn't make it. We are having a random, late party for Christmas, which is celebrated by a religion that most of the people here aren't even a part of."

"Well, Mr. Sour-Puss, it's the spirit of the thing! You know, fun decorations and gift giving… the commercial aspects. I thought it'd be nice and light-hearted. I know we missed Christmas, but not by much," she said, arranging some snacks on a plate.

"I guess we could all use some fun," he conceded, scratching at his ear with an annoyed expression. "But did Kouga really have to come? And I noticed you didn't buy any ice cream. You still owe me!"

Suddenly, a high-pitched squeal reached the couple in the kitchen. Inuyasha, melodramatic as always, clamped his hands over his ears and pulled a face at his (finally) girlfriend. She glanced back and forth between the doorway and his expression, blinking. The blank look she'd adopted proved how clueless she could be, since Inuyasha had figured out exactly what was going on even before it had started up.

"What _is _that?" Kagome finally asked when Inuyasha refused to answer her unspoken question.

"**KAGOME**!" three someones shrieked in unison, and then three heads appeared in the doorway, stacked in a verticle collumn as if the three women peeking around the corner were really three heads connected to one body hidden in the hallway. The one at the top, Ayumi, wore the mildest expression, her heart-shaped face framed by medium brown waves. In the middle, Eri and her yellow bandana accented black hair grinned widely. Yuka, her short dark brown hair in a frenzy, launched immediately into a lecture.

"Can't you ever stay out of trouble, Kagome? Geeze, it's like you go out looking for it! Next, you'll get sick and be in the hospital all the time because of endless illnesses or whatever. I'm starting to think you do it all for the attention. And, even though we're all glad you finally got together with this selfish jerk (even if he is hot) over here, but couldn't you have given Hojo another chance? I mean, he's so cute!"

As soon as she paused for breath, and before Eri could jump in with her own argument, Kagome waved her hands in front of her face to ward off anything else. "Hey, hey, hey! What happened to all the "I miss you!"s and "oh, my god"s I usually get from you guys? And when did you ever meet Hojo?" This was, of course, a valid point seeing as her three old friends and her co-worker Hojo didn't even live in the same city, but the girls ignored the question.

All three looked between each other, took a deep breath, and screamed together, "**Oh, MY GOD! KAGOME! WE MISSED YOU**!" in their loudest, highest-pitched voices yet. In a flurry of movement, arms and legs swinging, they tumbled into the room and rushed Kagome. Kagome sighed before finally subcumbing to her old habits and started screaming and jumping around with them. Three or four group hugs later, they finally disentangled themselves.

"Don't worry, we'll find the living room ourselves," Yuka assured the couple.

"After taking a look around, of course," Eri agreed, winking openly at Inuyasha (who was still covering his ears).

Ayumi grabbed her two friends by the wrist and looked apologetically at Kagome. "I'll make sure they behave, promise," she said, smiling sweetly. She led the others out of the room, keeping a firm grip on their arms in case they tried to free themselves and run.

Kagome turned back to the counter and put the finishing touches on the food with a smile on her face. Satisfied, she spun on her heel and faced Inuyasha, staring up into his face with a look she reserved just for him. " 'Love you," she said, lifting onto her toes so that she could steal a kiss, trying to butter him up after her friends' dramatic entrance. He leaned into her, enjoying the feeling of her palms pressed flat to his chest, fingers holding on for dear life. Taking advantage of her closed eyes, one arm snaked around her back while the other reached for the plate on the counter behind her. Silently, quickly, Inuyasha stole a cookie and snuck it into his pocket.

"I saw that," Kagome mumbled against his lips, which pulled into a smirk under her own. "Those are for our guests," she reminded him after pulling away. Still encircled by his arm, she jabbed a finger accusingly in his face. Deftly slipping from his hold, she snagged the plate of treats and led the way to the kitchen doorway.

"You look good in my house," he let slip suddenly. When she turned to look at him, he pointed his chin stubbornly in another direction, still unused to their displays of affection after so many months of holding back.

"Yeah?" Kagome prompted, smiling softly.

"… Yeah," he said, glancing at her from the corner of his eye while keeping his head turned. "You… you know what you said in the hospital? Well, I don't plan on ever asking you to leave."

A beat passed between them as they eyed each other openly, gauging one another's devotion to, and belief in, their relationship.

"Because I like paying a smaller portion of the bills," Inuyasha continued, adopting a disdainful expression.

"Just couldn't let us have a moment, could you?" Kagome asked with a sigh, her eyes closed in amusement and frustration.

He grunted.

"Don't worry, we'll get there," she promised before walking over the threshold. His heavy footsteps followed her out into the hallway as she knew they would.

Inuyasha, she was sure, would follow her anywhere.

**The End**

However, their story continues (and concludes) in the oneshot:_ So This is How it Happens?_


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